Will player of the future be ‘plant-based’?
As vegan lifestyle grows, so does debate among soccer players in England and beyond as to the benefits
MANCHESTER (Reuters) – The days of English soccer’s once notorious drinking culture are long gone and few professionals would now list the once obligatory “steak and chips” as their favorite meal, but things are moving to a different level entirely when it comes to what players used to call “looking after yourself.”
Whether it be the influence of dietitians, sports scientists or foreign coaches and teammates, you only need to look at the physique of modern Premier League players to realize they take health and nutrition very seriously.
The game is faster and more demanding than ever and the competition for places means young players, in particular, are on the lookout for any marginal gains they can make to improve their performance.
For some that now means giving up meat altogether and adopting a plantbased diet.
Norwich City’s 21-year-old full-back Caleb Richards has gone a step further by putting his experiences and thoughts on his diet into an e-book called “The Transition – an athlete’s guide to a meat-free diet.”
Richards, who was on loan at US team Tampa Bay Rowdies last year, was prompted to try to give up meat by the Netflix film “Game Changers,” which he watched in January.
The 2018 documentary, which features Arnold Schwarznegger and vegan athletes such as UFC fighter James Wilks, ultra marathon runner Scott Jurek and six-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, has won loyal followers but also received some criticism.
“It persuaded me slightly, but not enough to convince me that it genuinely worked,” said Richards, who nonetheless decided to experiment with such an approach.
The Salford-born player decided to try two weeks without meat and noticed immediate benefits.
“I saw results. My recorded top speed on my GPS unit at training, increased by 0.5 meters per second, which is huge when it comes to sprinting,” he said.
“That marginal gain alone had me convinced and feeling good about what more was to come. I was consistently having days feeling at my best and as confident as ever. Was this because of my new food choices, or was it coincidence? I didn’t know, but I was happy with how I felt and was willing to continue.”
While veganism and other plantbased diets are enjoying popularity, not all sports scientists and nutritionists are fully convinced of the benefits.
“Plant-based diets may be chosen by many athletes for various reasons, which include health, environmental, ethical, religious-spiritual reasons,” says sports nutritionist Jahed Ali
“But there still remains some controversy if such diets can optimize athletic performance – particularly for athletes aiming to maximize gains in muscle or reach high-energy requirements.”
Richards had some of his Norwich Under-23 teammates, like center-half Ciaren Jones, join him in the experiment, helped by the fact that the club’s first team have several vegan players and their canteen provides meat-free options.
“Around Christmas time I ruptured two of my ligaments in my ankle and I was meant to be out for about eight weeks,” said Jones.
“But I was only out for six weeks and when I was coming back from injury I was getting quicker results than when I was fully fit, my max speed went up, which shocked both myself and my physio.”
While debate among experts continues to rage about the benefits or otherwise to athletes of a vegan or plantbased diet, the approach appears to be increasingly popular in soccer.
Arsenal’s Spanish defender Hector Bellerin is a prominent advocate and top women’s player, Alex Morgan of the World Cup-winning US team is also a vegan.
Other players, such as Burnley forward Jay Rodriguez, have dropped meat but eat some fish and the modern player’s diet in any case is low on red meat.
It is a long way from the days of players enjoying fish and chips with a can of lager on the coach back from an away game but Richards has been on the end of some dressing room banter.
“The big meat-eaters call you a rabbit and so on... even at a family barbecue recently I was getting a bit... you obviously do get stick but some of those who have read the book are transitioning themselves now and I can give them a bit of stick back”.
LMA chief: Premier League must back neutral venues to return
The English Premier League season could be canceled if teams did not agree to play the remaining 92 fixtures in neutral venues amid the COVID-19 pandemic, League Managers Association (LMA) chief executive Richard Bevan said on Wednesday.
Professional soccer has been suspended since mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Britain suffering the highest death toll in Europe.
Discussions are continuing about resuming matches after clubs were told this month on a Premier League conference call that only neutral venues approved from a health and safety point of view will be allowed.
Asked if the 2019/20 campaign would be canceled if teams voted against playing in neutral venues, Bevan told the BBC: “Yes, I think that probably is correct.
“The government, if they haven’t already, will be making it clear that home matches with densely populated stadia, really puts into question whether social distancing rules can be adhered to.”
Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa are opposed to the idea of playing their remaining games at neutral venues and LMA chief Bevan said clubs needed to get on board with the proposal if the season was to go ahead.
Brighton chief Paul Barber had previously said playing in neutral venues would have a “material effect on the integrity of the competition.”
Brighton is 15th, but only two points clear of the relegation zone.
Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow, whose club is 19th in the 20-team standings but only two points behind 16-place West Ham United and with a game in hand, said every team had to protect its financial position.
The difference in a club’s annual revenue between playing in the Premier League and the second-tier Championship is enormous, which makes the situation a little tricky.
“The risk of relegation is probably a 200 million pound ($246.92 million) catastrophe for any club that mathematically could still go down,” aid Purslow. “We’re a club that prides itself on our home form. I think twothirds of our wins this season have come at home.”
“We’ve got six home games left to play so I think any Villa fan will agree that giving up that advantage is a massive decision for somebody running Aston Villa. I certainly wouldn’t agree to that, unless the circumstances are right.”