: Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:31 pm
LordLoveRocket87 wrote:
I was going to reply to you in the other topic regarding wigan players out on the lash but thats been blocked...
To me, you sound like a p!ssed off player who never made it big, never played anything higher than the reserves before finally being dropped.
I'm sorry, but it doesn't matter what job your in, Policeman, plumber, footballer, rugby player - It's a job at the end of the day, and everyone is entitled to chill out after a day at work...
Yep, i'll admit, if I seen a wigan player out before a game, i'd be p!ssed off at that, because that's just stupid... But after a game, regardless of a win/loss... it's fine. Simple as that.
Except that it isn't as simple as that.
Many top athletes abstain from alcohol entirely during the performing season, quite a few RL players among them. Ellery Hanley was a very good example.
Now I wouldn't go as far as to impose a drink ban on these lads. But as a way to maintain your fitness, it's far from being a fanciful ideal.
And though I've heard it said many times, it doesn't stack up to compare athletes whose vocation demands extreme levels of physical excellence with plumbers, policemen etc, who work at a far more sedate and physically less demanding pace. It simply doesn't, and I don't understand why people insist on making this daft comparison.
When you think about it, to go on the wagon during the RL season is not even that much of a sacrifice, given the potential rewards. Professional sportsmen have very short careers. If they want to be the best, they can leave the booze until they've retired - at the ripe old age of 30 in many cases, so it's not as if they'll miss out completely on the party animal lifestyle.
But as I said, it's down to the individual players. It's about how much they're prepared to give up to be the best at what they do. And if they're not prepared to go that extra dry mile, fair enough. Maybe it'll make no difference to their career, maybe it will. They'll never know.
