By William McGregor.
I dealt a few days ago with the question of what constituted a
sensible diet for footballers, and hinted that the so-called
special training which teams undergo on the eve of a great
encounter was often prejudicial rather than beneficial.
Now, a well-known medical man, who fills the position of
official doctor to one of our leading football clubs, met me on
the evening of the day that the article appeared and said
(excuse the apparent egotism, but it is necessary for the
purpose of the article), “That was a really good article of
yours in the London _Daily Mail_. You put the matter precisely
as I should put it, as a medical man. You might follow it up
with an article pointing out that there are two abuses which
footballers suffer from, viz. errors in regard to eating, and
errors in regard to drinking. If you can put in a strong plea
for either the abolition of alcohol, or the sparing use of
alcohol by footballers, you will be doing the game a good
service, and you will be doing the players a good service.”
I then remembered a little incident which occurred at the Aston
Villa ground early in the season. The occasion was a match
played during that tropical weather, weather which was utterly
unfit for football. Violent exercise such as football imposed a
very severe strain upon the men that day.
As soon as the interval was over, a medical man came up to me,
and in quite excited accents said, “I say, Mr. McGregor, do you
know that they have been giving the visiting team spirits
during the interval? I have never heard of such a foolish
proceeding. Why, alcohol is the worst possible thing for
footballers to have at any time, but more especially on a day
like this. You could not have anything more heating than
spirits.”
Speaking from a general rather than a professional or technical
experience, I agreed with him. I asked him, as a medical man,
what he would have given the men under such peculiar
circumstances. His answer was, “At any rate, I should not have
given them alcohol. I do not know that I should have given them
anything. The best thing would have been for them to have
rinsed their mouths out with cold water.”