Gareth Southgate expresses concerns to England stars over growing "trend"
England boss Gareth Southgate has expressed his concerns over the growing “trend” of using snus in football.
Former England striker Jamie Vardy has used the nicotine product in the past and the Professional Footballers’ Association has commissioned a 12 month study into the gum which can be used as a stimulant.
It is hard to believe that members of the England squad do not use it and Southgate warned players should be wary of the dangers. Southgate said: “I am aware that is seems to be a bit of a trend within the game generally and I am aware years and years ago touring Scandinavia that it was a bigger habit there and a lot of the Swedish players used to take it more commonly.
“But I am not really across all the details of the pitfalls or why people would want to do it. Obviously it is a form of tobacco, so it is not banned.
“But I would be surprised if those sorts of things were particularly good for you in the long term. I am not so sure it is about taking it, it is a pouch of tobacco that people wear. I am very aware that a lot of footballers use those pouches.”
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Many Premier League clubs have even produced presentations to players to warn them of the negative impact and urge them to stop using it. The PFA are now asking members to take part in the study which is being led by Loughborough University who will interview players as well as also producing surveys.
Dr Michael Bennett, the PFA’s Director of Player Wellbeing, said: “Through our conversations with players and their clubs we are aware that there is a rise in the use of snus in the game.
“We want to use research like this to better understand that trend, the motivations of players and how aware they are of the risks.”
Meanwhile, FA chiefs checked out hotels and Euro basecamps BEFORE last year’s World Cup.
They now have preferred sites in Germany ahead of next year’s Euros with the draw to take place in Hamburg on Saturday, December 2. Teams will not only discover their Groups but also which region where they will be based to reduce travel and carbon footprint and Southgate revealed they have discussed plans with the squad this week.
England boss Southgate said: “We spoke with the players the other day, certainly for us as a group of staff there are things that have had to happen for example we had to look at base camps for Germany before going to Qatar.
“So there are always a lot of things when you are planning for short, mid and longer term. I was in the FIFA meetings post Qatar when we went to the tournament wrap up where they were talking about the USA and the format of the tournament, the different time zones.
“So there are always these things going on where you have to get the next game right and have full focus on that but equally there are things we are putting in place now for next summer. Scheduling, matches in the lead in, looking at where we would ideally like to stay so we are across all of those things.”
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