ICTChris Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Saw this article about Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the influence of taekwondo on his game (Zlatan is a black belt in the martial art) https://trainingground.guru/articles/how-zlatan-and-man-utd-use-taekwondo#.WeUbPHMp9pQ.twitter It made me wonder about multi sport athletes and who the best were. Back in the day, it wasn’t uncommon for athletes to task part in many different sports at a high level - quite a lot of English football clubs were formed out of cricket teams so wanted to continue to play a sport during the winter. Obviously things are much more specialised now but maybe that’s to the detriment of players? You can draw a clear line between taekwondo and some aspects of Ibrahimovic’s game but what improvements can players pick up from playing different sports at a young age? It’s common for American sportsmen to play different sports to a good level - Michael Jordan famously quit the NBA to play baseball and the number one pick in the NFL draft a season ago, Kyle Murray, was also a first round pick in baseballs draft. I think that most youth footballers in this country are given a steer to stick to football pretty early if they are attached to a club. Who are best multi sport footballers?What sports would you recommend for footballers to try? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICTChris Posted June 4, 2020 Author Share Posted June 4, 2020 Most obvious Scottish example is Andy Goram, who played cricket and football for Scotland. Donald Ford, who played for Hearts and Scotland in the 1970s did the same.There have been a few players from the Highlands who played shinty as well as football -Alan Hercher played for Caley, Caley Thistle, Clach and Ross County while also playing shinty for Beauly and Michael Fraser was an international shinty player as a schoolboy and went back to playing after retiring as a footballer. I think Duncan Shearer played as well, don’t know to what level. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluearmyfaction Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Alan Hansen could have been a pro golfer, handicap of 2 when he was 15 and he gave up football for golf briefly. Fabien Barthez has raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours. The archetype is CB Fry, England international in football and cricket, long-jump world record holder, and played for the Barbarians in peanut-hugging. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cptn Hooch Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Keaghan Jacobs was apparently a very good cricket player in his younger days 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karpaty Lviv Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Clyde have a player called Kristoffer Syvertson who was brought up a Futsal player. Can see his obvious technical abilities but he’s been injured for basically a year now. I doubt he’ll stay but would have been good to see more of him. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland Capital Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Bixente Lizarazu in jiu-jitsu and surfing. Richie Foran also played GAA and apparently sought football over it because of it's amatuer status. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8MileBU Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eednud Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 David Johnston was a Scottish rugby cap and played some games for Hearts in the mid/late 70’s 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacGafraidh Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Two that went the other way Kenny Logan (rugby) could have been Dundee United’s keeper Frank Hadden (former Scotland rugby coach) was offered a contract by Raith. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacGafraidh Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Now that I think about it Clive Allen (Spurs) played for England at American Football and a German, Manny Burgsmuller did the same for Rhein Fire, both were kickers. (Gavin Hastings did Rugby and American Football for a while too) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eednud Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Dundee’s 61/62 championship winning side had at least 2 cricketers. Alan Gilzean played for Coupar Angus in presumably the Strathmore Union and Alan Cousin for Clackmannanshire in the Scottish County Championship. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derry Alli Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Tim Wiese quit football pumped himself full of steroids and joined the WWE. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8MileBU Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 3 hours ago, Mr. Alli said: Tim Wiese quit football pumped himself full of steroids and joined the WWE. That’s the fucker! When I posted Grant Holt I knew there was a goalie went into wrestling too but couldn’t remember who. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northboy Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Paolo Maldini was a decent tennis player - after retirement he played doubles in a couple of low key ATP tournaments. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICTChris Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 8 hours ago, Highland Capital said: Bixente Lizarazu in jiu-jitsu and surfing. Richie Foran also played GAA and apparently sought football over it because of it's amatuer status. That's a good call about Foran. I think there's a few Irish players who played GAA ot a decent level - Niall Quinn and Martin O'Neill are two that I can think of off the top of my head. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanius Mullarkey Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahemps Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 15 hours ago, ICTChris said: It’s common for American sportsmen to play different sports to a good level - Michael Jordan famously quit the NBA to play baseball and the number one pick in the NFL draft a season ago, Kyle Murray, was also a first round pick in baseballs draft. I think that most youth footballers in this country are given a steer to stick to football pretty early if they are attached to a club. This is something extremely common in American Sports. I think a lot of kids grow up playing multiple sports over there and there have been several high profile players who have played professionally in multiple sports. Bo Jackson played in the NFL and MLB at the same time for several seasons at a high level. A guy called Dieon Sanders played for both Atlanta Falcons (NFL) and Atlanta Braves (MLB) in a 24 hour period in 1992. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahemps Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 15 hours ago, ICTChris said: Who are best multi sport footballers? What sports would you recommend for footballers to try? Georgi Kinkladze used to train in Georgian ballet when he was younger which I would say was evident in his style of play as he was a great dribbler. Vasyl Lomachenko was also trained in ballet and is considered to have the best movement in boxing. Dancing is a big part of the culture in South American so a lot of footballers from there may be able to attribute some of there movement to this. I remember a discussion between two commentators (can't remember who) about Ronaldinho playing football like he is doing the samba. He was and probably still is my favourite player ever to watch playing football largely due to the way he moved. I think dancing or something would certainly improve balance and coordination which would be beneficial in any sport. Scottish male psyche would never embrace that though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICTChris Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 23 minutes ago, ahemps said: This is something extremely common in American Sports. I think a lot of kids grow up playing multiple sports over there and there have been several high profile players who have played professionally in multiple sports. Bo Jackson played in the NFL and MLB at the same time for several seasons at a high level. A guy called Dieon Sanders played for both Atlanta Falcons (NFL) and Atlanta Braves (MLB) in a 24 hour period in 1992. Yeah there are loads of players who could've had a career in both - Russell Wilson is a good baseball player and played in the minor leagues. LeBron James did an interview a few weeks ago where he suggested he considered playing football during the NBA strike in the early 2010s. I doubt his team would've been very supportive of that! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_K_97 Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Fabien Barthez ended up being involved in motorsport and raced in Le Mans 24hr 3 times. I know he was a bit mental as a goalie but I certainly didn't expect that when I heard it at first. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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