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Football and Ramadan
Topic Started: Aug 1 2011, 01:48 PM (354 Views)
Merengue
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With the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan I thought I would reprint an interesting article from several years ago by our fellow poster heebeejeebees, on his fine blog Just Football:

Football and Ramadan: Can The Two Co-Exist?

He points out a fascinating study which was conducted on fasting players at various Tunisian youth clubs:

Quote:
 
In the present study, biochemical, nutritional, subjective well-being and performance variables were not adversely affected in young male football players who followed Ramadan fasting in a controlled training camp environment,” concludes the study.

Fasting players did report that they felt “slightly less ready to train” during the fast and the amount of sleep they managed per night consistently dropped by around 1 hour a night, with players reporting “an increase in the feeling of tiredness and a slight decrease in their ability to concentrate.”

However the study went on to conclude that, “Based on these data, the changes in the timing of food intake and sleep patterns during Ramadan had little effect on objective tests of physical performance in this sample of youth football players observing Ramadan during a residential training camp setting.” The study’s only eventual recommendation was for players to, “ensure adequate sleep and good nutrition during Ramadan to preserve football performance and general health.”


An interesting topic but I wonder if studying youth players, who would I think be less susceptible to the strains of fasting than players over 21, had any effect on their findings?



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Sporting
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I read somewhere that Kanouté actually did slightly better for Sevilla during Ramadan than at other times, but have no evidence to back up this view at the moment.
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Dr. Z
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Sporting,Aug 1 2011
10:42 PM
I read somewhere that Kanouté actually did slightly better for Sevilla during Ramadan than at other times, but have no evidence to back up this view at the moment.

Really? Then Sevilla should have him a] fast more often and/or b] go to the mosque more frequently! If true that sounds more circumstantial than anything else to me. Seems counter intuitive doesn't it that a player can fast during the daylight hours yet still be more productive on the field of play.
Poniendo el pecho a las balas!
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Yogi
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German footballers may eat during Ramadan: council

Quote:
 
Germany's Central Council of Muslims said it was advising Islamic professional football players that they need not fast during Ramadan, ahead of the regular season resuming Friday.

"The professional player can make up the fasting days during periods when there is no match and in that way show his respect for God and the holy month of Ramadan," council president Aiman Mazyek said in a statement.

During Ramadan, observant Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. Several Bundesliga players are Muslim, including many players of Turkish origin and Bayern Munich's French international Franck Ribery.

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The council had initiated talks with the country's leading professional football associations last year and sought the advice of Islamic scholars to resolve the issue.

The Al-Azhar University in Cairo concluded that an exception to the strict Ramadan fasting rules could be made for professional players so their performance would not be compromised.


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hobbes
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I must have missed this thread a month ago, but I played football (the gridiron kind) and we would start the pre-season in mid-August with two-a-day practices. It's a traditional right of passage to wear a bunch of heavy equipment and practice for 4-5 hours per day in the heat of August.

In my case, I did this with a couple of Muslim teammates who were fasting for Ramadan. Not only did they never miss a practice, but their play and fitness didn't seem to be noticeably affected. What's worse they had the nerve to not even complain! Do you know how hard it is to go through two-a-days and not even be able to bitch about the heat or complain about how hard you're working because two of your teammates are doing the same thing as you, but aren't eating and they're not complaining. Some people ;)

cheers,
hobbes
Saskatchewan for the CPL: multis e gentibus vires
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