Republic of Ireland V Oman - Tuesday, 11th September 2012 - Friendly - Fulham

[paul_oshea]

Athletes stay fit during Ramadan. It might not be ideal but with proper diet and exercise they should be exactly as they'd normally be. It's certainly no worse than the British and Irish players who spend their summers eating crap and drinking and then crash diet for pre-season.

Its completely different. But given some of the opinions you have aired on here previously I'm not surprised.

Its not just "they don't eat". The body clock is completely different, sleep patterns are effected, fagtigue everything.

[Charlie Darwin]

From personal experience, I can tell you athletes struggle mightily during Ramadan. I used to play on a Turkish team (we also had some West African Muslims) and I will tell you that during Ramadan we probably averaged at least one red card (which was not the norm) a game due to tempers being very thin and tired bodies and minds.

Well it's not ideal - otherwise they'd do it year-round - but a professional athlete should be able to cope and maintain a balanced diet. I'm sure they'd prefer not to and would perform better with their normal routine, but 3 weeks on they should not still be feeling the effects.

[theworm2345]

Well it's not ideal - otherwise they'd do it year-round - but a professional athlete should be able to cope and maintain a balanced diet. I'm sure they'd prefer not to and would perform better with their normal routine, but 3 weeks on they should not still be feeling the effects.

Not necessarily, I don't think they're even allowed to drink water while the sun is up, so my teammates would gargle it. It would also obviously harder at a higher latitude (such as England and Ireland) because the sun is up longer than places like the Middle East or even here in Chicago.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, I've just put the match up on Irish Torrents.

[Charlie Darwin]

Its completely different. But given some of the opinions you have aired on here previously I'm not surprised.

Its not just "they don't eat". The body clock is completely different, sleep patterns are effected, fagtigue everything.

I didn't say it was. I'm referring to the recovery period afterwards - if you're sticking to a balanced diet, you won't still be suffering 3 weeks later.

Not necessarily, I don't think they're even allowed to drink water while the sun is up, so my teammates would gargle it. It would also obviously harder at a higher latitude (such as England and Ireland) because the sun is up longer than places like the Middle East or even here in Chicago.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, I've just put the match up on Irish Torrents.

No, they can't drink water if they adhere to it strictly. It's not ideal practice for an athlete but the body has coping mechanisms, especially when you've been doing it most of your life.

[Junior]

As interesting as the Ramadan discussion is.......Oman were just $hite end of.

[DeLorean]

Bumping thread

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Closed thread.