The eternal athletic debate about whether jocks should have sex during a competition or abstain gets raised to its most absurd level at World Cup soccer time. All the different nations mean different attitudes about sex.
The English players have been banned from sex, while the Argentines say have at it. Brazil's president (not the soccer federation president, but the president of the country) encourages Argentina to tire itself out, despite a Brazilian player for the 1994 Cup winner crediting sex and booze for his team's win.
The eternal athletic debate about whether jocks should have sex during a competition or abstain gets raised to its most absurd level at World Cup soccer time. All the different nations mean different attitudes about sex.
The English players have been banned from sex, while the Argentines say have at it. Brazil’s president (not the soccer federation president, but the president of the country) encourages Argentina to tire itself out, despite a Brazilian player for the 1994 Cup winner crediting sex and booze for his team’s win.
First, the English:
Fabio Capello, the Italian coach tasked with heading the English national team in this year's World Cup, has pinpointed the one thing that would surely lead to his squad's downfall in the tournament: rank lasciviousness! Which is why Capello has imposed a moratorium on his players having physical relations with anyone, including girlfriends or even wives.
Capello claims he can monitor the players by cameras in their hotel TVs, though that seems dubious. Team doctors, meanwhile, counter that sex during the tournament might aid players. It seems weird to have an Italian urge abstinence to Englishmen.
Argentina, meanwhile, under new coach Diego Maradona (a wild man himself while playing) says his players can have as much sex as they want with their partners. This prompted Brazilian President Lula da Silva to tell the BBC: "I want to see the Argentines arrive staggering and exhausted to their games.”
Da Silva, though, does not seem to know his country's soccer tradition. Branco, a player on the 1994 team that won the World Cup for Brazil, said sex and booze went a long way for the Brazilans:
What harm is there in it? My son Stefano was conceived during the 1994 World Cup when I spent a day off in San Francisco with my wife.
Sex is good for you. It relieves tension. We hadn't won the World Cup for 24 years, so it didn't do us any harm.
Sex at the camp should only be ruled out with a team-mate's wife. What you can't do is stuff your face until four in the morning or stay in a brothel. …
Drinking was allowed and we'd have three or four drinks to relax. What's wrong with that?
I see Branco's point. There is so much down time between games, that total abstinence seems absurd. Do any jocks want to weigh in on how they see it?
