What is it with all these injuries?

[TwoSheds 0]

How can we have so many players injured all the time? The players are meant to be extremely fit.They have some of the best training facilities in the country. Our home pitch is pretty lush and considering how most pitches are nowadays we sgouldnt be getting all these injuries.

I dare say some of you had and still do play in a local saturday or sunday side. I played both for over 20 years and some of the pitches we played on were nothing short of a field in the middle nowhere.Some were so bad we had to remove cow shit off the pitch before we played,others had pot holes the A11 would be proud of and some were so up hill one way it was nearly impossible.to play. Sunday mornings getting up at 9am with a hangover from hell and sometimes still under the influence we use to bang and clash our way through a game with fags at half time and all that malarky.Ok we were far from super fit and didnt have the skills of Henry or Ronaldo but we bloody well enjoyed it! Maybe i was lucky as i never had a injury that put me out of action until knee ligaments at the age of 35. But i also remember that most of the players from the teams i played for never really had anything more serious than a twisted ankle or concussion.

So why oh why do our boys seem to suffer so badly? Surely it cant be just bad luck?

[HappyhammerAndy 0]

Hello fella

injuries, yeh tell me about them?

wer''re both in the same boat!

[Indy_Bones 444]

The comparison you''re making just doesn''t apply.

It''s like asking why a thoroughbred racehorse needs constant monitoring and attention when the trusty shire horse in the farm next door has been going for years with no problems.

The higher the standard of an athlete the greater the risk of potential injury normally applies.

Take your average professional footballer, they will do some form of daily training regime, often have a suggested dietary plan, and are playing the game at a higher speed and impact level than a Sunday league player.

Because of this constant strain on muscles, ligaments, bones etc, they are more likely to sustain an injury. However, also due to the regular usage of said areas, they are also often more likely to make a quicker and more effective recovery from the injury than the average guy on the street.

It would appear following recent reports, that modern day equipment such as boots is also having an impact upon this.

Also being fair, a lot of Sunday league players can be carrying minor strains but not even be fully aware of the problem as they are playing at such a lower level and often playing through pain barriers when a professional player would have been off well before. A good example of this was a guy who I used to play against who went down after a strong tackle, complained his ankle hurt, got abuse from his own teammates for being soft and carried on playing. I found out later that he''d actually broken his ankle in two places...

Being honest, I''m also amazed that you''ve come across less injuries during Sunday league matches as in my days of playing (about 6-7 years ago) I''d see, and be on the receiving end of some of the worst tackles known to man. Some which made the likes of Keane''s tackle on Haaland look like tame by comparison.

[Shyster 0]

As Cluck would put it, it''s due to the sugar-free calpol generations, TwoSheds. [:D]

In 1974 as a fourteen year old I played competively for both Hainford in the Anglian Combination on Saturday afternoons and Frettenham in the Business Houses League on the Sunday, plus I turned out for school & youth sides during the week - apart from the odd sprained ankle, bloody nose, black-eyes or severely gashed & bruised shins (I never wore shin-pads) nothing that kept me out for more than a couple of weeks - granted I was a fit as a flea youngster then who practically ate, slept & shat football, but like you, TwoSheds, I also played competively throughout my twenties & thirties and the worst injury I ever received was torn ligaments in the left knee and that was self-inflicted through  my studs, hence leg, getting stuck in mud whilst turning to header the ball.

Cluck is right - babies & kids of my generation had to put up with the pain of teething and other similar natural ailments.

There seems to be a quick cure or pill for everything these days - the latest I''ve heard about is a thing called Restless Legs Syndrome - it seems that people afflicted with this "disease" have the urge to move their legs every once in a while. The drug on the market to cure this is called Equipe - I kid you not.

Did these people with Restless Legs Syndrome ever think to get off their idle arses and go for a walk!?!

[TwoSheds 0]

Ah the sound of a broken bone cracking out across the field on a frosty sunday morning,what a noise eh? I think the trick of not getting injured in sunday league was to get the hell out of the way of the 18stone drunken midfielder. Seriously though i only played sunday league from 2000-2005 and must admit most teams including ourselves really only worried about getting into the clubhouse for a good session before a sky game came on.

Dam those days were good!