Page:Association Football and How to Play It (1908) by John Cameron.djvu/36

34 clerks and others who are called upon to follow indoor occupation, require more than moderate regular exercise. It is very likely that they will have to do their training after or before business hours, and in the evening brisk walking of a couple of miles, with a sprint of 100 yards four or five times, is a good way of getting rid of superfluous fat, and everyone can do this if he likes, though laziness will often lead some to shield themselves under the excuse, "They have no time." One well-known forward, thoroughly conscientious in his training, used to exercise on the Embankment, an excellent plan. Everyone who has to work sitting down should take a morning bath and a little practice with a skipping rope or dumb-bells. The question of diet is of some importance. The game is so strenuous and exhausting that a substantial meal should be taken at least two hours before a match. Many have a beef steak well cooked, with stale bread and vegetables that are well done, always excluding potatoes, and they are able to play right through the game without feeling in any way fatigued. The plainer the food the better. All players are better if they leave alone intoxicants. Needham earnestly advises young players to abstain from them. He says that his experience is that they do not sustain any long continued effort, and their stimulating effect is followed by an invariable depression. From my own observation of players who have abstained and those who have not, I am sure the former have done far better than the latter. Plenty of Internationals and men whose names are