International Support: A Student Experience

As you would expect at University, particularly in countries such as England, you meet students from many different nations. I have made friends who are Portuguese, Italian, Ghanaian and Nigerian for example, who naturally support their respective nation, not England like me. Of course there are more International Students, or those who live in England but come from elsewhere, than that at UOB. These are just people whose paths have crossed mine. What is apparent from big competitions such as the World Cup, is that you learn that every nation has their own way of supporting.

English fans are often associated with being drinkers when it comes to football, and a rowdy bunch too. 'The Barmy Army'  as we apparently are. I think that comes from being a very passionate set of fans. I'm no different when I watch England, I like to go to the pub to watch and support, and those I have met at UOB have been the same. In other words we get to have 'one or two' and shout at a TV screen in Bedford High Street together, before letting everyone else know of our pride if we do well.

However, you do notice that other countries do things slightly differently. I have found out for instance that the Italians are very family orientated and so, although it's not strictly what all Italians do, will have gatherings that coincide with the game. Someone I know from UOB doesn't even like football yet still did this!  The African nations tend to be big into their music and dance when they support their team, something that was emphasised to me when I came to UOB and meeting new people. This is similar to those of countries like Brazil, who again are a very passionate group and like to make it into a party atmosphere, which seems to make them smile all game!

Obviously being English means I am more aware of England's team than others, but the biggest thing I have picked up on at university about other teams is the attitude that their fans have. Although English fans are very passionate, we are also a bit negative towards ourselves through the expectation that our players should perform better than they do. I personally don't get too excited about watching us play in some games because we aren't always as positive as we can be in our style of football. Other people can't get enough of seeing their team play, they just love it! It really means a lot to them and events like the World Cup really highlight this to us all. I think this comes from having lower expectations than those of English fans and it allows them to enjoy the experience more.

Are the pitches causing injuries?

Before the World Cup had started there was a lot of talk about the quality of the facilities and if they would be ready for the tournament. The pitches themselves were discussed at length as to how they would affect teams in terms of style of play and so on, but what about injuries, are the pitches having a big influence on the amount we are seeing?

The condition of the Manaus pitch, 2 days before  the World Cup

It has been evident throughout the tournament that nearly every pitch is in poor condition, which you would expect would make it easier for players to injure their ankles in almost any movement in the game. However, this isn't something that we have seen much of, or at least isn't an injury that is ruling players out of further matches, in fact the only player who has been so far is Daniel Opare of Ghana. This would suggest that the pitches are in good condition, right? Not necessarily. In fact Jose Mourinho, the current Chelsea manager, has had a bit of a rant about the quality of them because of the effect it has having on performances, but he also hasn't mentioned injuries.

What we are seeing is a large amount of hamstring and thigh strains so far, common injuries in football. I recall the USA striker Jozy Altidore picked up a hamstring strain when sprinting after a through ball in their first game.
What you will learn at UOB is that these strains are caused by over-stretching when completing explosive movements with poor coordination, such as sprinting or striking the ball, and could occur at any time. Obviously this can be applied to all sports, not just football.

Jozy Altidore of the USA suffers a hamstring injury against Ghana

I would personally say that I don't think the pitches are really affecting the amount of injuries that are occurring, they are just affecting the quality of matches as they are not in pristine condition. Like I've said previously, the individual player injuries (at the time of writing) back this up, although I guess it could be argued that these are just recorded injuries.

Physios: what do they actually do?

One of the big stories from the England camp in this World Cup was one which pretty much summed up our campaign in my eyes; embarrassing. Physio Gary Lewin managed to dislocate his ankle after reportedly tripping over a water bottle during the celebrations of Daniel Sturridge's equalising goal against Italy, causing him to have to return home to England. This has pushed the role of a physio further into the public eye, bringing us to the big question, what does a physio actually do?

Gary Lewin suffered his bizarre injury against Italy

In the modern game the role of a physio is massively important in aiding a player's performance. There are numerous jobs and responsibilities that a physio will do such as identifying injuries and treating the issue. After identifying the injury the treatment phase will start and a rehabilitation programme will be devised to enable the player to return from injury as quickly as possible with minimal risk of the injury reoccurring. In top level sport in particular, it is common that the rehab programme will be in collaboration with a fitness coach.
A physio also has an extra responsibility of providing mental support to a player, almost like that of a sport psychologist, to give them the belief and confidence that they will overcome their injury and that they can still perform at a high standard, something which is of huge importance when it comes to longer term injuries like knee ligament damage. Unfortunately for England, this is something that Uruguay's Luis Suarez received very successfully from his physio, Wayne Ferreira, during his treatment and he was able to go on to score twice, without even being match-fit.

How could a UOB student step in? Well, there are multiple aspects that are taught to students that  would help. Obviously anyone at UOB who has studied on the Sports Therapy course, or even the sports injuries unit, could be capable of identifying injuries and going on to treat them. Maybe working with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in his rehab? Those who have studied a science course/unit would also have an understanding through their knowledge of the human body. Also, a lot of the mental support aspect that is provided to players is learnt in sports psychology modules at UOB. So as you can see a lot of the students at UOB would have an area that they could specialise in.

Gary Lewin's recent incident has further highlighted that it isn't just the players on the pitch that count, in fact there are different ways of going to a World Cup, yet still being part of the team. It is important to remember that to push yourself to the elite level, and the possibility of going to a World Cup, you need to work hard and gain experience.

Is the heat in Brazil affecting the player's attitudes?

A lot of the pre-World Cup build up has been surrounding the issue of the heat and humidity and 'how are the England players going to deal with it'? In the rainforest surrounded area of Manaus in particular, where England played their opening game against Italy, it was around 33 degrees and 76% humidity, which seems crazy when you're used to English weather! Obviously these conditions make it harder for all of the teams, not just England, but how does it affect them and their attitudes during games?

The Arena Amazonia, Manaus

We have learnt in lectures at UOB that, when exercising in the heat, increased sweating and therefore increased fluid and electrolyte loss will occur. As a result, maintaining high performance levels should be harder, but the stars playing at the World Cup should be in better physical condition than your average performer like me, so the expectation would be that the likes of Rooney, Sturridge and co will deal with these difficulties better than I would. The most obvious way of doing so would be to maintain hydration during the matches at every opportunity.


It has already been seen that players are looking to get fluids back into their system at every chance they can during the matches, to the extent that players are taking the attitude of feigning injuries almost every time they get fouled. This may seem pathetic to some but believe me, having experienced the conditions of Manaus personally, you really do need to keep hydrated and take a breather when you can! By taking this attitude, they allow a chance for everyone to re-hydrate and rest for a moment, a very wise move in my opinion to be successful.


It hasn't all been good though in Brazil. We've seen players waving the imaginary card to the referee to try and get opposition players booked or sent off, which although it isn't cheating, is poor sportsmanship. I for one am glad that English players don't tend to take this approach and wish it was punished more than it is - a guaranteed yellow card for the player who does it perhaps? However, as bad as it is, it is quite a clever way of increasing the chances of winning. The idea is that if a team goes down to 10 men, they will have to work harder and will therefore tire quicker, making it easier to win.


So to answer the original question, we have seen changes in attitudes, but to be honest nothing more than what was expected before the tournament started, and I imagine it was expected by most.


Anything to win. A simple idea, but to me, there are some things that you just don't do purely for the spirit of the game. Looking after your body, I'm all for it, but play the game like it should be played!

England's World Cup: An Introduction

Hello everyone and welcome to this new feature, the University of Bedfordshire World Cup 2014 blog. My name is Alex Lyon, an extremely keen footballer who likes to think he knows a thing or two about the game. I personally enjoyed a great three years at UOB, studying on the Sport and PE BSc course, where I was taught/lectured by some fantastic lecturers and made some great friends along the way. Throughout the tournament I will be reporting on several themes of the World Cup on a regular basis, from the perspective of a student and bringing my thoughts to you.

Well, today is the day of reckoning for England! A massively important match against Uruguay, a team who before the tournament started were being tipped as a 'dark horse' by many to go on to lift the trophy in Rio on July 13th. After the opening game defeat against Italy, despite a very promising performance, England need a positive result tonight and I for one am very optimistic about our chances, especially if the fast-paced, attacking football that we saw at times on Saturday night is played again, and if Wayne Rooney, the man who seems to be the scapegoat for the media of late, can pull out a performance that we all know he is capable of! I'm sure many others will feel the same and agree with me that our young stars, such as Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling will play a huge part tonight as well.

I must say, despite my confidence, I am still very nervous about the game purely because of the players that Uruguay have in their stellar strike-force, Edinson Cavani and Liverpool's Luis Suarez. Keep these men quiet and we should have enough ability as an attacking outfit to get those vital three points, easy right? Well tonight we find out if Roy and the boys can find the way to do so, which I thoroughly believe they will do.

Hopefully this time tomorrow we'll all be feeling a lot better about England's chances of ending the '48 years of hurt' and lift the coveted Jules Rimet, but for now its time to sit back, enjoy a beer or two and let the drama unfold!