The history of tabacco and the history of football have always gone hand in hand, whether it be players sneaking a puff here or there, or coaches on the touchlines nervously fumbling through a pack. Some are occasional smokers while others are seasoned regulars.
While the culture may have changed somewhat, Marco Verratti just this week was caught smoking, sending the French press into a frenzy after the player had already gotten into a fight with coach Unai Emery when substituted during a match.
Needless to say, smoking isn't good for athletes expected to perform at an elite level and public opinion has clearly changed on the matter over the past few decades.Before anti-tabacco laws, stars like Alfredo di Stefano would smoke without any sort of restraint, even when the team was on tour.Press conferences, benches during a match, even the box-seats where club presidents joined to watch the game... no location was off-limits as far as smoking was concerned. Luis Aragones, Johan Cruyff, Javier Clemente, Cesar Luis Menotti, Leo Beenhakker, Carlo Ancelotti have all been seen smoking at one point or another. Players themselves are not free of blame, with Garrincha, Socrates, Frank Rijkaard, and Robert Prosinecki just a few to have taken an occasional puff.
"I don't smoke much, except when I get the urge, but people forget all about that when they see me run," said Barcelona defender Jeremy Mathieu, one of the few players so honest about his habits.
Other more recent players to have been caught include Fabio Coentrao, Kevin Prince Boateng and Wojciech Szczesny, the latter of which was forced to pay a 25,000 euro fine, making it the most expensive cigarette of his life.
"Radja Nainggolan smokes, which is why I always give him a hotel room with a balcony," said Belgium coach Marc Wilmots of one of his stars, somewhat forced to accept the player's decision.
With all that continues to change in the world of football, long gone are the days where athletes could be seen smoking without consequences.
The cultural shift has been established, and the repurcusions are ones Verratti and others will best be getting used to.
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