I live four miles north of Ashington, have done for about eleven years, although born and bred a Millfield lad, Ashington as we all know is the home town of the great JACKIE MILLBURN [ clever ****es please forgive my spelling ] and the Charleton brothers, world cup winners 1966, I walk down station road, theres a statue to Jackie, I always stop and look, and reflect,,,,,,,,great man, great footballer. My problem is,,,, JACKIE worked down the pit, maybe put in a ten hour grueller, came bank top, went home got washed up, sat on a bus for a hour and a half, put the shirt on, played pro football, was a brilliant footballer, unbeaten, until Shearer, but then JACKIE wassent the penalty taker, so to me Jackie is still the main man, got cleaned up after the match, went home, bite to eat, bed, then back down the pit, for another ten hour grueller. No special diets in those days, what the **** was a phisio? footballers got on with the job, .......NOW, my question is are modern footballers, too highly tuned, or to brittle, they dont have to nut a casey, the balls these days are as soft as ****e, the old casey broke your nut if you headed it, todays football science, seems to be at odds with what used to be, maybe yesterdays men were men, and todays not, or are our supposed nowadays athletes too busy counting their dosh to be fit? To me Jackie was a real man, pity our modern breed seem to lack something. where have the real footballers gone. Len Shackleton Jackie Milburn Raich Carter Sir Stanly Mathews Charley Hurley Kevin Ball just named a few.I know every fan from every club could name more, end of rant.
What I can't figure out is how rugby players sustain so few injuries and those that do recover more quickly than football players. The yanks are amazed they don''t wear suits of armour like their football players do. Maybe we need a top class rugby medical/physio team and fitness coach. That way we may have less injuries and faster recovery. Perhhaps one of you out there is a Physiotherapist and can enlighten me.
You forgot Sir Bobby. When he left the pit and went south he worked all week as an electrician and played on Saturday. I would like to add that these guys couldn't be paid more than 20 quid a week for playing. Good money in those days but a long,long way from what these greedy people get now.
Bill - I hope you'll always stop, always look, and always reflect. Great man and a great player - nice article, mate. We all had a special diet in those days, however - it was forced on us by war-time rationing. A bit frugal. Nowt wrong with it though - let's face it, Roger Bannister did something pretty damn special on it in '54. Mmickey's brought up a good point about rugby fitness, too. However, I'd like to see a mid-point found on the money issue. Stanley Matthews was arguably famous in more different countries than Frank Sinatra. And yet, one was a multi-millionaire living it up in LA while the other was tossed ã19 a week. I never want to go back to that.
Agree,but on the rugby fitness point i would say they are much bulkier stronger blokes compared to footballers who are usually not well built,or made, and are built for running fast n being agile. So, I think cos they are so highly tuned and lightweight they are much more likely to pick up injuries. Footballers in the main are soft as pap to be honest though
SYD shift work, old mate, need to unwind, and then again , us youngans dont need so much kip.dont sleep in case I miss something, when I eventually get to bed, dont want to get up,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, cos its ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ABOUT WORK,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Lord give me a big lottery win.,,,, PLEASE.
