Fasting and Football - Day 15

There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding the perils of fasting whilst sporting. Especially whilst playing football. There was an uproar regarding the Iranian football players who are prohibited from breaking their fast this month for the sake of training.On the other side of the world team captains are making concessions for their players to enable them to fast and train simultaneously; sometimes by simply moving the training to later in the day. Why Iran didn't catch on to that is beyond me; then again what other than surprises can we come to expect from a country led by Iamadinnerjacket. In fact Ali Karimi is now backon the national team and has even agreed to paying a fine of EUR 33,000 for breaking his fast. The fact that the national football association will be profiting from this is of course not ironic whatsoever.

Of all the Dutch teams, PSV Eindhoven and Ajax Amsterdam are those with the most Muslim players. In order to ensure the loyalty of the players the clubs have made changes to the training schedule, tailored a new diet for them and even held workshops on Ramadan for players and supporters alike. Meanwhile, across the Arab world fatwas are being generated exonerating the players during Ramadan. This is all fine to soothe the guilt of the players; however, the principles remain the same. If you cannot fast for whatever reason either make up for it at another time or pay your dues. There should not be an absolute exemption like in the case of those who are ill or pregnant. This is different - football is a sport with an entertainment value and even if an occupation it remains a choice. A surgeon who has to preform a 10 hour surgery gets no exemption either...

fasting top scorer for Sevilla - Freddie Kanoute

The only sport I don't practice whilst fasting is swimming. Somehow the thought of breaking my fast by gulping down a mouthful of chlorine water is enough for me to give up this excellent sport for a month. Everything else though remains on the table. I recently joined the women's football team in my city and I did not want to miss any trainings on account of Ramadan. I explained to the coach that I may seem slower and tire quicker but that this is also equally possible after Ramadan! Somehow for me the toughest hurdle is the warming up which includes sprints and jogging. In general I pretty much hate jogging; and even more so when I am fasting and I end up feeling the burn at the bottom of my chest that much faster as pretty much any liquid in my body is thrashed out through my pores. Luckily though I live in a country that never lets you down on one account - rain. In my mind the rain kept me hydrated and the rest of the training, though tough, was completed. Luckily in between the "warm up" and a training match the sun had set and I broke my fast with a symbolic sip of water. I say symbolic because there was no way I was going to drink a cup and run around the pitch sounding like a half full jerry can.

There is something compelling about exercising whilst fasting. Too much is not advised but everyone has a different limit. Given that I have been fasting for nearly two decades now, I am quite used to the effects and know when my body has had enough. It's never a bad thing to push yourself.