Every recent England manager calls for the FA to bring in a winter break. Yet the bean counters at football clubs know that the Christmas period is an extremely profitable one. The turnstiles ring on Boxing Day as people decide to watch a bit of footy to get over their Xmas over indulgence.
In 1959 in England football matches were played on the big day itself. Blackburn beat Blackpool by a goal to nil while Coventry and Wrexham played out an eight goal thriller with the midlands side enjoying a 5 Р3 win.
It would be unimaginable for teams to play on Christmas Day these days but they do play on as many days possible during the festive period. While everyone else is digging into their turkey players will be out on the training pitch and they are not allowed to over indulge.
Stress on the body
Modern players will get little sympathy for the fact that they are limbering up in their woolly hats and gloves while the rest of us pull crackers and read bad jokes. At the top of the game they earn colossal amounts of money so it is hard to feel sorry for them.
But the demands of the modern game do place real stress on their bodies and playing so many games in such a short space of time can cause problems. In the long term they will suffer from osteoarthritis or severe knee pain.
Big clubs will rotate their squads to cope with a game every few days. Teams on the soccer breadline do not have that luxury and the players at the unglamorous end of the beautiful game will have to drag their exhausted bodies out on the field for each game.
It may not seem like hard work playing football but in an average match each player will run at least seven miles while also performing various aerobic exercises as they move their body to control, run with and head the ball.
Injuries at Christmas
The full back comes to get the ball. His tackle is late and he delivers a belated and unwanted present to his opponent. The physio runs on with his physio kit and supplies the bad news to the star striker that he will be out of the game for some months.
No footballer wants to see the first aid kit at any time but it canִ be fun to be laid up at this time of year. The manager knows with so many games being played he is bound to lose part of his squad and he just hopes that his most important players come out unscathed.
The public though lap up Christmas football and if the weather can make things more interesting at the same time then so much the better. Modern undersoil heating stops pitches from getting covered with snow which would make the playing surface nice and Christmassy.
Gary Neville said on Sky Sports that footballers accepted that they had to play numerous games at this time of year. One day though Santa may grant the Englandֳ managers wish and give them all a few weeks rest.