With the amount of injuries (ACL injuries, in particular) increasing day by day, fans are seeing the real time consequences of increasing playtime without considering the overall health of the athletes involved.
Fixtures (also referred to as games) have increased exponentially, and the players are suffering. Here is how football, or ‘soccer’ according to the U.S., is failing its fans and its players at the same time.
Football has consistently been a worldwide phenomenon through the ages, but recent changes in scheduling games is well known among even casual fans; the biggest of these changes is game frequency.
Essentially, footballers have an incentive to play more and that adds stress on their bodies. That’s one of the issues that have led to injuries and burn out.
There’s no doubt it’s as a result of the fixture pile up. In an era where criticism is the order of the day and sometimes unwarranted, fans can sometimes be oblivious to the fact that footballers are also human beings, and are vulnerable to the intense physical pressure of elite level sports. Even an excessive paycheck does not make up for premature degradation of their bodies.
Manchester City’s defensive midfielder Rodrigo Hernández Cascante spoke up about his contemporaries response to the increase in injuries. “If this carries on we will have no option but to go on strike.” At the end of the September, six days later, he tore his ACL, the Ballon D’or candidate would miss the year.
His Spanish teammate Dani Carvajal was stretchered off the pitch crying after he tore his tendon weeks after saying that they can’t play 72 games a year and furthered the dialogue about whether injuries adding up like this would become a detriment to every player.
To put the dramatic nature of these injuries into perspective, compare Jude bellingham (age 21) with 251 games under his belt, to David Beckham, who at age 21 had only played 54. Let’s look at one of the reasons why that’s happening.
The youth project now being enormous is being embarked on to everyone, one of the reasons why we see young players now and again playing like never before leading to burnout and injuries. Hence why the likes of Michael Owen and Raheem Sterling, among others, who “peaked early”.
A combination of “playing for the check,” and being pressured to start early is causing a myriad of young footballers to walk into a life of chronic physical pain after their professional careers are long over.
It’s now being thrusted as a league campaign creating up to 36 teams, which highlights the organization’s intent on increasing revenue at all costs. Other competitions like UEFA Nations League, the Spanish Super League have increased to four teams and been brought to Saudi Arabia.
Additionally, player wages also play a part in this. Players’ wage demand can be outrageous at times. Bayern CEO Karl Rumminiege said “I understand this argument. But the players and agents have fallen into this trap. By demanding even higher revenues and where does this revenue come from? Through games.”
This statement was bang on. When players earn wages like that, fans want to see them earn it on the pitch and clubs are looking for money. Failure to perform leads to criticism.
The trends show that something still has to be done about the alarming injury rate because there has been a consistent uptick in ACL and hamstring tears with players like Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli, and Gabriel Jesus (all for Arsenal) out for a period of time, with the latter suffering an ACL mid-January in an FA Cup tie vs. Manchester United match.
Thierry Henry, an Arsenal legend was asked about the issue on the American Golazo show during the champions league events. Henry said, “I see people playing without joy anymore.”
Football fans have rarely been without opinion on the most or least favorite players, but it may be time to reckon with the truly concerning aspects of professional football before the suffering not only continues for the players, but spreads to fans of the sport as well.