Many people think it is easy being a professional football player; after all we just have to work two hours a day and work is doing something that we love.
It’s hard to disagree with that statement but I don’t agree that it is easy. Being a professional football player has more to do with the word professional instead of being a footballer.
Taking care of my body was one of the biggest facets of my career. My routine was fixed and if I ever missed out on any aspect of it, it would totally put me out of sync.
I would always have pasta for dinner after my training session before the day of a game. Game day would see me have a heavy lunch between 1.30pm and 2pm with a cup of tea and nothing else before the match at 7.30pm, except for a pre-game banana and energy drink.
On one occasion while I was playing for Woodlands Wellington, there weren’t any bananas or energy drinks available before the match, and I worried more about not fulfilling my pre-game routine then the actual match. In the end though, I had one of my better games for the Rams that year and I had to laugh at myself at how superstitious I was.
The next game though, I made sure I stuck to my routine just to stay on the safe side. Football players are a superstitious bunch, they say. I’m having none of that!
However, I found it harder to keep this routine going in my final year of professional football. As I found my playing time limited with Geylang International, I had to get used to not being part of the first 11. Worse still, I had trouble motivating myself to stick to my routine as it caused me huge discomfort at night. I was still running on Red Bull and filled with stored energy as I spent my time on the bench during the entire 90 minutes!
I am ashamed to say that by the last two months of the season, knowing that I was most likely not going to have my stay extended with the Eagles, I did away with my routine and just ate what I wanted and when I wanted as I knew I would just be sitting the entire game gossiping with my team mates about our next move the following season.
I know how most of the S.League players are feeling at this very moment with their futures up in the air as the season approaches its end. The good players will probably have their contracts sorted by the club by now and they can stay calm knowing that their future is safe for the next year at least.
The rest though will have sleepless nights thinking about how they will have to feed their family next year if they do not get a contract extension, while still having to motivate themselves to play for the last few remaining games of the season.
I found myself in that situation when I had to play a Prime League game last year. An S.League player is allowed to play in the Prime League, which is equivalent to a reserve league, if he did not play in the previous S.League match.
This was their last match of the season and by now; I had enough of playing for the Prime League. I think I played more matches with the reserves than the actual first team that season. That was the day I think I lost the last of my professionalism as I treated it more of a social game than a match for a professional club.
Looking back, that was probably the beginning of me falling out of love for the game.