Is bridge likely to become popular among professional footballers?

Is bridge likely to become popular among professional footballers?

Footballers entertainment

It’s a well-known fact that professional footballers often struggle to entertain themselves during down time; and can you blame them, they do have a lot of it. One way that many footballers choose to entertain themselves is by playing games; and not football games.

There has been many high profile cases of a footballer allowing computer games to have a negative impact on their career; ex England goalkeeper David James perhaps being the most high profile of them all.

However, computer games sit just below gambling when it comes to footballer’s favourite off field activities. Horse racing, is something that many footballers England take a keen interest in.; some have even gone as far as purchasing race horses. As well as horse racing, casino games such as blackjack and roulette are among the favourite pass times for the modern day professional footballer – especially given the number of promo codes that are available in this day and age.

Travel time

The life of a professional footballer inevitably involves a lot of long distance travelling. Back in the 2014/15 Premier League season, the Newcastle United squad had to travel over 8,000 miles in order to complete their fixtures. And although many clubs in the upper echelon of the football pyramid nowadays travel by plane rather than coach, there’s still numerous hours spent travelling throughout the season.

Going back a few years’ card games such as poker and blackjack were a favourable way of passing the time whilst travelling. However, as technology has progressed smart phones and iPads have overtaken card games as the go to form of travel entertainment. Having said that, there are still people out there who prefer not to use technology whilst travelling; perhaps for these people playing bridge could become part of their travel routine.

Could bridge have a positive impact on football?

Although it may seem like an odd topic, is it really that preposterous to think that bridge could become popular with today’s biggest sporting stars? After all, football is a game that see’s strategy and instinct work together in perfect harmony; bridge is no different.

Develop a strategy that allows you to utilise your strengths, then develop and change that strategy during play to achieve the maximum result. This premise is true when playing both football and bridge.

So, bearing this is mind, why shouldn’t footballers be encouraged to play bridge? It won’t only help them pass the time whilst travelling, but may also help them think more strategically, which surely isn’t a bad thing.

If you know of a footballer who wants to learn you can direct them to our Learn to Play page here  which includes some great videos.

Would football embrace bridge?

It’s unlikely that footballers themselves would actively embrace the game of bridge; but the powers that be may just think it’s a good idea. Managers of football clubs would surely prefer their players partaking in and bonding over a card game, rather than them being slumped in front of a television screen.

The problem is these days, who really holds the power. It’s hard to imagine a football manager banning handheld consoles on coaches and planes and insisting that his £400,000 a week superstar picks up a pack of cards. Let’s see if any manager dare …