Friday Freebie: The Football Industry At Christmas

Festive time is a busy time

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This week, another great contribution from a guest writer, Gavin Blackwell physio at Dudley Town, as he gives an insight into the busy upcoming festive period for the backroom team.

When football is in the thick of its busiest spells fans naturally think of players, managers and coaches having their work cut out to keep ahead of the plot. One guy, often the most important of all, whose schedule can often be overlooked is that of the physiotherapist.

A physio’s work is never done, not when every match, every training session even, can produce a range of injuries from the most minor strain to things eminently more serious and long-term. Yet an adult lifetime in football you have a matter-of-fact capacity to take what comes in an unruffled stride. In thirty eight years, it’s always been a case of working through the Christmas period along with the players and the rest of the back-room staff with very little rest.

Christmas is a time of celebration and festivities for most people - but not for football industry. It’s the busiest period of the season, without a doubt, so many games to contend with.

There’s generally anything from 9-15 points to play for over Christmas and New Year. If you have a bad one a manager could possibly lose his job, have good one, you might shoot yourself up the table and everyone is happy.

Secondly, there’s the professionalism of your players. Will they stay disciplined when everybody else wants to indulge? On top of all that you’re hoping and praying that you don’t get the sort of injuries that will seriously disrupt your season. A player out injured in September might only miss one match, over Christmas he might miss all four.

Then we have the situation with the professional players possibly being in for training on Christmas Day, some managers bring them in early others have them in later for a short training session on the stadium pitch before travelling to a hotel. Others give them the day off to spend a little time with the families and see it as bit counterproductive and achieve nothing that couldn’t be done in a couple of hours pre- match on Boxing Day morning.

Younger managers especially are very wary of taking criticism if the team doesn’t perform on Boxing Day. You do hear all sorts of nonsense that the players been out on Christmas Eve, or they have eaten too much food on Christmas Day.

At our level most have the day off and spend it with the families, we trust them to look after themselves properly in preparation for the game and the weather is always a concern at this time of year.

Late nights and Christmas duties are the bane of my life in football, I suppose. I never put off until morning what really needs to be done in the late hours - just in case of bad weather the next day, or I was ill or the gaffer announced a change of routine that may throw me I am always professional.

It’s also the time when us physios come in for Christmas overtime. I always expect the holiday fixtures to give me plenty of work trying to get bruised players fit for the next game. Some years I’m very busy, other years I’ve been slack - but that’s always a good sign for the club.

You always want to go into Christmas injury free because if anyone picks up even a minor knock, it’s a struggle to to get them fit with the matches closer together. If it’s a bruise or a strain and there’s a chance a player can be fit, I’ll work with him for as long as I can before the game.

The first 48 hrs are always the most important. That’s when diagnosis and treatment have the biggest effect, I’m known as a hands on physio I like to use ice, elevation massage and compression rather than lots of electrical gadgets, despite the advent of modern electro-therapy which plays it’s part.

They can be useful but I see them as an aid rather than a substitute for it. The most valuable piece of equipment is the ice machine. Cold compresses remain the most effective means of stopping internal bleeding which is the basis for most muscle injuries.

Broken bones are mercifully a rare occurrence, they have to mend themselves after appropriate immediate action and when anything truly serious comes along doctors and possibly specialists are consulted to guarantee that the best possible treatment is provided.

I have worked through Christmas Eve and New Years Eve and will do it again in trying to get casualties ready in time. Boxing Day is the traditional time for matches and with another game two days later, gates are up and there is a much more pleasant atmosphere at Christmas games, it’s a lucrative period for clubs as attendances often increase.

It’s the knocks and strains that are not helped over the festive period they are the sort of injuries that become problems with fixture congestion. It’s the trivial injuries that need to get all the attention.

If a player has broken his leg he has his surgery and it’s a case of go to the gym and I will see you later. The problems for a physio are heightened at intense times like Christmas, Easter is almost worse because the minor injuries have accumulated and worsened. A hamstring injury for example is a case in point if the physio does not put his foot down players will carry on with slight strain, feel sore and reappear three days later. Several weeks of that and then… snap.

Squads at our level are smaller these days than they used to be and that adds more pressure to an already difficult job. People are forever talking about big squads and strength in depth. The holiday period are times when bigger clubs should be able to make numerical advantage tell.

The desire, especially smaller clubs, to make sure players are fit for crucial games can cause friction between managers and medical staff, it’s a real problem trying to squeeze more out of smaller squads. But we have to stay neutral. Our work helps the manager, we do not work for them but with them we must do what is best for the club. If than means not allowing a player to play because it’s too risky, then so be it.

In those circumstances I have to get in as much treatment as possible it’s always a rush at this time of year, we have a high quality squad so don’t need to patch players up and rush them back in to action. However, add in two long term injuries, simple illness, suspensions and domestic unpredictability, it does become part of it.

With years of experience I understand how much lads want to stay in the team when we are having a good run. I also know what they can get away with in terms of fitness. With five subs allowed these days a gamble on a 90% fit player has become less risk it’s a three-way-process: the manager, the player and me. My job is to get them ready for selection so the manager can make his choice.