Missing the cut: 10 celebrities who could have been footballers

Arguably, football has gone on to become one of the most loved sports in the world with an ever-increasing fan base. Having said that, playing, training and injuries which are a part and parcel of the game have proved to be too daunting and challenging for some to take it up and shine professionally. Let us take a look at some of the stalwarts who dreamt of making it big in football but have carved a niche for themselves somewhere else :-

1. Rod Stewart (Singer) :-Rod Stewart played for Middlesex Schoolboys as a centre-back and had set his sails towards a successful football career and claimed to have signed for Brentford in his teens. However, he quit the club two months later as he found himself cleaning the boots of the 1st team players. Stewart revealed that he quit the game as being a musician was easier, plus he could get drunk all the time!

2. Simen Agdestein (Chess Grandmaster) :- Chess grandmaster Simen Agdestein represented Lyn Oslo in his youth days, and was also a part of Norway’s national team making a few appearances in the late eighties. The Norwegian clocked up an unusual feat of playing for his country in both football and chess before a cruciate ligament injury in 1991 disrupted his football career and forced him to concentrate on his chess. He became a Grandmaster at 18 ,winning seven Norwegian chess championships and hasn’t looked back ever since. One of the great ambassadors of the game. Chess’ gain or football’s loss ?

3. Steve Waugh (Cricketer) :-Steve Waugh was one of the finest cricketers and captains Australia ever produced,but had he made an alternate choice, Waugh would have been displaying his talent on the soccer field rather than at the MCG. He had earned a contract with Sydney Crotia to participate in the state league. Waugh stated that when the time came to choose between two sports, he chose cricket due to the lack of professional football opportunities that existed in Australia at the time.

4. Rafael Nadal (Tennis Player) :-The southpaw has become one of the greats of the tennis world, but he could have easily been lost to football. At the age of 8, Nadal won his first under-12 regional tennis championship which signaled the end of his promising football career as his father advised him to choose tennis over football. His love for football is still alive and it was clearly evident, when he bought 10% shares of the Spanish club R.C.D Mallorca in July 2010.

5. Nicky Bryne (Musician) :-The singer of the Irish band Westlife was a former Leeds United youth team goalkeeper, and also a member of a FA Youth Cup-winning squad in 1997. The crooner who was released for being too short, played for several clubs in Ireland before he was signed up by Louis Walsh, which kick-started his career as a musician.

6. Sean Connery (Actor) :-Not many people turn down a chance to play for Manchester United, but Connery who would later become the man with the license to kill did it. In hindsight it probably was the correct decision taken by the future Bond star. The already 20 something Connery was on tour for the musical South Pacific, and was playing a football match which was scouted by the United Legend. He was offered £25 a week, but the Scot decided to stick with acting. If he could convince the legendary Sir Matt Busby that he was good enough, one wonders how well he could have been had he taken to football.

7. Denis Compton (Cricketer) :- One of the members of the esteemed list of athletes who were so good enough that they played multiple sports. As a cricketer, Compton played for the English national side and the Middlesex team and was one of the best batsmen of the era. As a footballer, the winger displayed his traits at Arsenal winning the league and the F.A Cup with the Londoners. However, he was dogged with injuries throughout his sporting career which saw his football career get restricted to 60 appearances.

8. Julio Iglesias (Singer) :-Iglesias was a Real Madrid favourite before becoming a professional singer-songwriter and selling 300 million records. He was a promising goalkeeper with the Galacticos youth team in the early 1960s. A freak car accident left the Spanish star seriously injured which shattered his dreams to become a shot stopper. A nurse gave him a guitar to help regain dexterity in his hands, from then on it was history.

9. Gordon Ramsay (TV Chef) :-Gordon’s ambition to become a world class footballer was more in his dreams than in reality. Ramsay played in three pre-season friendlies for Rangers first team, but a serious knee injury to a 17 year old, followed by cruciate ligament damage sustained while playing squash, put an end to his footballing ambitions. Rangers had challenged Ramsay’s claims by releasing a statement which said Ramsay was only a trialist at the club and never actually played for the first team. Case of spicing up your own football exploits? Maybe.

10. Alvaro Benito (Musician) :-Alvaro Benito was a product of Madrid’s youth academy who rose through the ranks and made his debut as a 17 yr old for the senior team. The left midfielder was more of a fringe player for the Merengues and was restricted to seven appearances in the league. He suffered a career-ending injury while on duty with the U-21 Spanish team and then took to song writing and strumming the guitar during his rehabilitation, which saw him put together a rock band, Pignoise.