by Ian Royal »
07 Nov 2013 18:50
grey_squirrel So since this thread has now morphed into an "Injury, or not an injury" thread, how about considering the following
Pre 1990 (or thereabouts, whatever)
There was only one substitute
There was a first team playing squad of, what, 15, genuinely?
They used to 'train' on public parks
There was no such thing as a 'sports scientest'
There was no such thing as a 'goalkeeping coach'
Many players never wore shinpads (or any other form of protection)
The pitches resembled Glastonbury
The players ate and drank what they liked
The players did and went out where and when they liked
They earned f/ck all
In gametime and in training, they clobbered each other like a game of British Bulldogs
There was no such thing as a 'scan'
There was such a thing as a cold sponge (and that was it)
And yet
They still turned up and played (more often than not, barring a broken leg or fractured jaw)
And today
They have the polar opposites of everything noted above and yet are sicknotes for weeks or months with "an impact injury".
Who are the mugs here?
When you condition someone to the peak of fitness, you push them closer to their limits and therefore make more injuries more likely and more debilitating to their ability to perform at that peak fitness.
It looks pretty clear from the older games I've seen the massive difference in fitness and conditioning in players then and now.
