Educate, counsel sportsmen
PAUL HASULE, the former national football team captain, was one of very few international class sportsmen to get a full academic education.
PAUL HASULE, the former national football team captain, was one of very few international class sportsmen to get a full academic education.
He held a degree in social sciences, an education that undoubtedly gave him the analytical mind he applied in football management. But he, like many of his contemporaries, had a drink problem, which compounded the illness that caused his death.
It is a common social-psychological problem for retired sportsmen to degenerate socially once the hero-worship has died. The best way to deal with it is for the retiring stars, well past their sporting best but yet to hit the prime of their lives, to be counselled into a new life. In addition, getting a wholesome education —which our clubs should encourage — would equip them with skills to take up new vocations. It may be asking too much to do like the Americans, where all drafts to the NBA, the National Basketball Association, are picked from university graduates. But this should have us thinking for the future of our heroes.
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He held a degree in social sciences, an education that undoubtedly gave him the analytical mind he applied in football management. But he, like many of his contemporaries, had a drink problem, which compounded the illness that caused his death.
It is a common social-psychological problem for retired sportsmen to degenerate socially once the hero-worship has died. The best way to deal with it is for the retiring stars, well past their sporting best but yet to hit the prime of their lives, to be counselled into a new life. In addition, getting a wholesome education —which our clubs should encourage — would equip them with skills to take up new vocations. It may be asking too much to do like the Americans, where all drafts to the NBA, the National Basketball Association, are picked from university graduates. But this should have us thinking for the future of our heroes.
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