The Life of a Professional Footballer - It Ain't As Easy As You Thought..

Footballers seem to have it all, don’t they? They got the money, the booze, the swagger, the girls, a great house, a flashy car. This on top of having practically the whole week off, doing what they love, and having play as their work. Seems so perfect, right? But is it, really?

Actually, the life of a footballer is much more complicated than any of us know. As a fan and an outsider, it is easy for us to say, ‘He earns n pounds per week! He has no reason to be down and depressed!’ but they don’t have perfect lives, and face problems that each of us are liable to face, and even ones of even greater magnitude.

The Transfer Window. For fans, it is one of the most exciting times of the footballing calendar, who will go where, will he stay, will he come, who’s going to be the next boss, how much are we going to spend this year, etc. The time can be equally joyful for players or extremely tense and quite a horrid time of the year – especially for players with families. Often, we tend to overlook the fact that these players too are husbands and fathers at home – they too have a family to support. Every summer, the uncertainty about the player’s future has a profound effect on their family. ‘Honey, do we have to move again?!’, ‘We need to search for a new house again!’, ‘Daddy, will we ever stop changing schools all the time?’ – just some questions that footballers face from their family in July and August.

It’s not much of an issue when you’re a Cristiano Ronaldo or a Lionel Messi, but spare a thought for them footballers playing in the lower leagues, and even more to those players who are not ‘wanted’ by the club they play for anymore, and are released as free agents. They have no club, and it’s not assured that they will get one soon. Hence, they are left in an abyss of uncertainty, engulfing them from every side. Forget the insecurity his family feels, what about the player himself? He does not know if he’ll earn the same next season, where he will be playing next season, whether he will be playing or not, and the insecurities just build up on one another til he’s at the point of a mental breakdown.

It certainly does not help watching reporters you’ve never seen before declaring to the world where you’ll be playing next week, and alleging exaggerated accounts of why you’ve been released or why the management sent you packing. In addition, there is always an overrated ex-footballer sharing his ever-s0-precious opinion on how you’ve underperformed this season, and that your mentality isn’t right for the team. Constructive feedback is always appreciated, and footballers aren’t beings who are beyond criticism but when you see critics and pundits shredding away to smithereens your season-long work, you just get that depressing feeling, and wonder – why don’t I have a normal job and life?

The criticism again has an effect on family, like a vicious cycle. Imagine a player who plays for Club X sends his children to a school where there are fans of Club X’s arch rivals, Club Y. The Club Y fans trash their dad and speak horrible things about him. Worse even if he scores in a derby, the children end up bearing the brunt and become subject to bullying. If the player doesn’t score in a long time or lets in a freak goal, they become the jokes of the week; jokes which do fall upon the children’s young ears. Even if it was for ‘fun’ and ‘banter’, you would never want to hear a joke about your dad the way these players have been made fun of.

Criticism and media coverage of player’s football is somewhat acceptable. But media these days want to showcase the player’s entire life to the public, and tabloids have undercover photographers stationed everywhere, just waiting patiently to catch the footballer doing something that might have been considered normal if it was any random person. But oh no, footballers are holy, beyond ordinary. And before you know it, it hits the headlines. Every man is entitled to his own privacy but with the media around, that doesn’t seem to apply in football. We pay to watch football, not hear stories about which player cheated, which player shopped at Harrods, and which player pouted in public.

In a way, yes, footballers have a social responsibility because in today’s society, they have been given celebrity status, role models after which many take, and to that extent, they have to ensure that their behavior off pitch is respectable and decent. However, what goes on inside their house is no one’s business but themselves, and we don’t need or want to know about it.

And then after all these issues comes the actual part of performing week in, week out for your club. Competing for team places, trying not to show your disappointment at missing the first XI openly, feeling like putting your head inside the oven after a bad game, mustering the courage and confidence to report for training again, giving it your best, and starting the whole process again. Going out onto the pitch, not knowing whether you’re going to be greeted by encouraging, loud cheers or demeaning, depressing boos.

I guess you just never know when you’re a footballer. Unpredictable? Very much. So, the next time you trash-talk a player or express your open criticism or jokes about a player, remember, their life isn’t very easy either..