ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Perceptions of retired professional soccer players about the provision of support services before and after retirement

S Drawer¹ and CW Fuller²

¹ UK Sports Institute, 40 Bernard Street, London WC1N 1ST, UK
² Scarman Centre, University of Leicester, 154 Upper New Walk, Leicester, Leicestershire LE1 7QA, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Fuller, Scarman Centre, University of Leicester, 154 Upper New Walk, Leicester LE1 7QA, UK
cwf2{at}le.ac.uk

Accepted 23 July 2001

Objective: To determine the views of retired players about the provision of support services in English professional soccer before and after retirement and to assess the impact of career ending injury on these views.

Method: An anonymous self administered questionnaire was distributed to 500 former players registered with the English Professional Footballers' Association. The questions asked about personal details, current medical status, reasons for retirement, perceptions of the provision and quality of support services, and use of prophylactic treatments while injured.

Results: Of the 500 questionnaires distributed, 185 (37%) were returned. The Professional Footballers' Association provided significantly (p<0.001) more help and advice to retired players on medical, financial, career, and educational matters than any other organisation. Although respondents showed some satisfaction with the provision of medical support, they were significantly (p<0.001) less satisfied with the provision of sports science (23%) and education/welfare (19%) support. Respondents who had retired through injury, however, were more dissatisfied with the provision of all services. Significantly (p<0.001) more respondents agreed with the view that injuries would reduce income earning potential, contribute to medical problems, and restrict the duration of their playing career. Respondents who had been medically diagnosed with osteoarthritis were significantly more likely, at some time, to have regularly received steroid injections while injured.

Conclusion: The results presented are consistent with other evidence that the provision of injury prevention and socioeconomic services at professional soccer clubs is inadequate. The soccer industry should therefore develop a long term strategy for managing the needs of players who are forced to retire through injury.

Keywords: soccer; support services; injury; retirement

Abbreviations: PFA, Professional Footballers' Association; OA, osteoarthritis

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Commentary

I Waddington

Director, Centre for Research into Sport and Society, University of Leicester, iw11{at}leicester.ac.uk

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• McGillivray, D., Fearn, R., McIntosh, A. (2005). Caught up in and by the Beautiful Game: A Case Study of Scottish Professional Footballers. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 29: 102-123 [Abstract]