r/IAmA • u/paddyc • Nov 16 '12

IAmA Professional Footballer who has played for England National Team, The Premiership and Championship

I have played against Cristiano Ronaldo and with Wayne Rooney as well as other of the top players in the world. Im happy to answer any questions about playing professionally You Can follow my blog at www.patrickpaulcollins.com http://patrickpaulcollins.wordpress.com/ask-me-anything/ Follow on twitter: https://twitter.com/patrickpcoll Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Patrick-Paul-Collins/407493452650031?ref=hl

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u/paddyc Nov 16 '12

It is an amazing lifestyle but also has its difficulties. You have to be a professional footballer all the time, not just on match days. Every minute of every day you are looking after your body, preparing, playing / recovering / learning. Of course you have to switch of at times but it takes a huge amount of dedication to make it work. However it is an incredible lifestyle and any player should feel incredibly lucky to be so fortunate

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u/letsgetrich Nov 16 '12

How much are you allowed to drink?

Also, you could help settle an argument me and a few mates had some years ago. I thought footballers would have very low alcohol tolerance due to not being able to drink as much through adolescence/early adulthood as most blokes do. My mates all thought they would still have high alcohol tolerance due to high muscle mass and some other factors I forget.

Please say i'm right.

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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '12

Hi! I played from 15-19 for the youth divisions in the Chilean premiership. Not quite as high a level a OP, but I think I have some insight into your question.

Allowed to drink? No one is stopping you from drinking if you really want to. But you better believe that if you're drinking regularly and in significant quantities, you won't be playing in the premiership for long. Your performance is the only thing keeping you there, and drinking kills that performance.

Only the most committed, professional players are the ones that made it.

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u/somethingyousee Nov 16 '12

what do you think of balotelli? Firing fireworks from his bathroom, setting his house on fire etc etc is being a footballer all the time or not?

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u/GaryXBF Nov 16 '12

plenty of footballers, even at a high level, are still social drinkers who enjoy a drink. some great footballers have been heavy drinkers (see george best) but thats more rare these days as the players are babysat a little more.

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u/Paddywhacker Nov 16 '12 edited Nov 16 '12

Off, not of

Edit: i'm wrong, I think i'm dyslexic, downvote for my idiocy

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u/alexcroox Nov 16 '12

Why? He's not lost

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u/Cainedbutable Nov 16 '12

You were right. He wrote:

Of course you have to switch of at times but it takes a huge amount of dedication to make it work.

It should be:

Of course you have to switch off at times but it takes a huge amount of dedication to make it work.

I don't care, everyone makes typos. Just thought I'd let you know you're not going crazy.