Published: Wednesday, 31st December, 2008 7:00am

Why footballers don't wish it could be Christmas every day

by Ooor Willie

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CHRISTMAS is a brilliant time of year if you are a football fan.

Every few days there seems to be another set of games on and the crowds always seem bigger and more boisterous than usual.

As a boy I always used to look forward to the New Year derby matches as they always had something extra special about them.

Now, as a player, this time of year often elicits a different response.

When you scour the fixture list at the start of the season all you ask for is a game with as little travel involved as possible.

Luckily for me we were scheduled to play Cowdenbeath.

For part-time players this period can sometimes feel like a full-time job due to the demands that games put on everything else we do.

Players really have to watch what we eat and drink and then drag ourselves out of bed to train on days when the rest of the country are content to snooze away any Christmas excess.

It is not always easy to abstain from the temptations but I can safely report that no-one at our post-Christmas training session felt the need to unleash their new Christmas bin liner to sweat out any unwanted fluids.

We trained on Boxing Day morning in anticipation of our game at Cowdenbeath the next day.

Apparently, even the hot water was still on holiday as we were handily provided with a series of freezing cold showers that only a few brave soles dared run through. Suffice to say I made my excuses and went home.

The session was an effort that was made completely worthless when the game was called off at 12.30 on the Saturday afternoon.

I believe it was due to frost and, having always felt a chill run down my back whenever I was in Cowdenbeath, leant a bit of truth to the old saying that if it rains in Kirkcaldy it will snow in Cowdenbeath.

I suppose the one saving grace is that the game was not scheduled for Boxing Day itself.

Now the party season bandwagon rolls onto our first game of the New Year.

Luckily, this time we will have a two-day break between Hogmanay and the game so at least the players will be able to get out and celebrate the bells instead of being stuck at home watching Only An Excuse on TV again.