Fulham is the Fattest Team in the Premiership

In an article that has me laughing my ass off, Men's Health out of England has done an article about fitness and health in the Premiership. The scores are based upon Body Mass Index. Unfortunately, Fulham has come in as the fattest team in the Premiership.

Mark Pembridge has been named in the top 5 fattest players in the entire league as well. Cookie and the rest of the Fulham team were not all too pleased to hear about this story.

I found this in the Guardian. Here is a link to the story:

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Sto ... 15,00.html

 

Its a shame because under Tigana body mass was measured daily to ensure no-one was getting away with cheeky pints or chocolate bars. I know we had a reasonably bad season under Tigana in the premiership, but in many ways I wish we had been patient and perservered with him - with Cookie as an assistant - because I think the future of the squad would look brighter....and fitter.

 

Before I even read this article, I was of the belief that Fulham players were not in the best shape. I see a lack of fitness on the pitch quite often. It has not been displayed as much in the second half of the season, but before the New Year, we looked tired and we were dragging ass all the time in the second half.

I do not know what kind of a fitness programme Cookie has the players on, but I hope it improves if he does stay for next season. When you are going against physically better talented teams like Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United, one thing you can make sure of is that your fitness is high and better than most other teams you play against. I hope the fitness program is boosted.

This article, while perhaps a bit farce, might lead Cookie and others at the club believe that changes need to take place in the fitness program.

Last, but not least, when I was in London in March, I picked up a 2005 Fulham calendar. For the month of March, good old Mark Pembridge is featured and it really looks like he needs a bra. If you have the calendar, you will know what I mean. I think this is hilarious.

 

The club responded to this article on the official website:

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/displaynews.asp?id=6161

Basically, the magazine report is nonsense. BMI measures weight relative to height. It is a useful measure for average folks, but it makes no sense for elite athletes who are muscular. Yes, they are heavier than average folks of the same height. But that is because they have more muscle on the same size frames. Based on BMI, virtually every player in the NFL would be classified as overweight.

You can calculate your own BMI at the CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/calc-bmi.htm

I did a quick comparison:
Me: 5'10", 190lb, BMI=27.3
Terrell Owens: 6'3", 226 lb (according to Yahoo), BMI=28.2

TO is more overweight than I am? Uh, no. BMI doesn't tell the whole story. The lads are not fat.

 

What's wrong with men wearing bra's Tom?

 

Re: RE: Fulham is the Fattest Team in the Premiership

I would love to show everyone the photo of Pembo I am referring to. Hey, if a bra will help his game, I am all for it.

 

RE: Re: RE: Fulham is the Fattest Team in the Premiership

I'll send you a pic of me wearing my bra...I'm a lumberjack and i don't care!

 

RE: Re: RE: Fulham is the Fattest Team in the Premiership

Well, sorry to get back on the subject and off man-bra's but it is only a LITTLE better for that body mass to be muscle than fat.

Terrell Owens BMI might be higher than a soccer player's, and perform great, but a soccer player with his muscles wouldnt be playing long at that weight. And what you want to bet that Deion Sanders never got to that point!

HAd a discussion with a NFL fan about the sports and I hazarded there were more Soccer players could have been in top college backfields than Football players could hack it at soccer... Deion being one of the few.

 

RE: Re: RE: Fulham is the Fattest Team in the Premiership

What a pile of rubbish....i think that Fulham's response was less defensive and more constructive and accurate....

Given the discipline that the players are in, there are other aspects of their conditioning that are more important than a BMI indicator...half the diet obsessed women in England don't pay attention to it and i don't see that it has any bearing on the skills that are required for football/soccer. I would think that TPR (temperature, pulse, respiration) rates, recovery times and dietery monitoring would be a far more accurate way to judge a footballer on his condition and how it effects his game.