Ever wondered about superstitions in our beautiful game? Here are a few

Now, I think everyone has noticed that they did something before a football match and you scored a goal or played a blinder and in your head there is nothing else logical to suggest why it happened, except something you did pre-game and so you keep it up. Does this change when you’re a professional, though?

 Mine, when I used to play football, was always when getting ready to play. Socks first on and when getting dressed post-game was socks last off. I never played exceptionally well or scored or anything, I just did because I thought it would bring me luck and hey-ho, I still sucked and haven’t kicked a ball in a competitive match in about six years. But that’s another story.

I can only find a few on the internet of professionals and the rituals they may have carried on from their youth careers or something they picked up along the way. My personal favourite is probably Mario Gomez, now of Fiorentina. He was lining up for a youth team game for Germany and didn’t sing the national anthem for some reason, that game he scored and he hasn’t sung a single national anthem since. Amazing, huh? I find it intriguing that Gomez has pin pointed that as the sole reason why scored that game and carried it on since, I know there are other factors, including he’s really good at scoring goals, and if it was as easy as not singing an anthem, I’d never mutter the words “God Save The Queen” ever again.

Now everyone’s favourite man and captain of England - John Terry. He has a long and sequential order of superstitions, including he needs to sit in the same seat on the team coach and whilst on the journey he listens to the same CD on repeat (Yes, CD, I take it JT isn’t apart of the Apple era) and when getting ready for the game he ties a band three times around his socks. No clue why, or what kind of band it is, in my head I pictured an elastic one, but it can’t be.

Another one I did when I played was I would never shoot at goal because I wanted to save them for the game. Maybe I should have done in hindsight and when I was researching for this I found out that Gary Lineker and the original Ronaldo did the same! I was stunned and that’s probably the only thing I’ve got in common with either of them, so my life is now complete.

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