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Sunday, 28 July 2013
He runs alongside the Arsenal coach in Vietnam's capital Hanoi mile after mile. He bumps into trees and lamp posts but keeps on running.
At one stage he beats his
hand against the badge of the red and white Arsenal shirt that he is
wearing, mimicking an often used footballer's goal celebration.
Eventually to keep up with the coach he hops on a moped.
The "Running Man"
-- as Vu Xuan Tien has been dubbed -- gets his reward when the Arsenal
coach stops and he is invited on board to meet the players and manager
Arsene Wenger, who all sign his shirt.
Man gets on Arsenal bus.
Cue international headlines as the "Running Man" goes global. Welcome to
the power of English football in Asia.
"It should be a message
for all of you guys that if you really want to pursue your dreams, it
can happen,"
But the "Running Man" is not the only one working his socks off in Asia at the moment.
Arsenal are one of a
number of English Premier League clubs touring Asia and Australia --
others include Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea -- as part of
their pre-season preparations. The new season kicks off on August 17.
"Tours provide us with an
opportunity to build our global following, and are also a great
opportunity to bring thousands of supporters further afield closer to
the club by giving them a chance to interact with us personally," an
Arsenal spokeswoman told CNN.
"From a business
perspective it's also important we show our commitment to building our
name around the world to become more attractive to potential commercial
partners and to support some of our existing partners' business
objectives for whom Asia is also an important market."
The business case is
clear, but to travel thousands of miles round the world, to train in
humid conditions and wake up in a different hotel bed each morning seems
-- on the face of it -- perhaps not an ideal way to prepare for the
rigors of the English Premier League season and the challenge of the
Champions League.
United forward Wayne
Rooney was an early casualty of the club's three-week trip to Asia, with
the England international having to fly home on the tour's opening day
with a hamstring injury.
Travel + Change of time Zones + Disrupted sleeping patterns + High Load Pre Season Training = High Risk of Injury
Dr Craig Duncan of the Australian Catholic University, who until recently was Sydney FC's head of human performance
Dr Craig Duncan of the Australian Catholic University, who until recently was Sydney FC's head of human performance
Dutchman Alex Buttner
also picked up a hamstring injury in their friendly defeat to the Singha
All-Stars in Thailand -- United's first match on the tour -- to join
Rooney in the treatment room.
United did not respond
to CNN's questions regarding the financial importance of the Far East to
the club or the physiological efficacy of these tours as a way of
preparing players for a new season.
While Premier League
clubs press the flesh in Asia, Champions League winners Bayern Munich
remained in northern Europe and held a training camp in northern Italy
in Trentino early July.
"Unfortunately from a
physiological perspective and as preparation for the upcoming season I
can't see too many positives and more importantly there is significant
chance of injury," Dr Craig Duncan of the Australian Catholic University, who until recently was Sydney FC's head of human performance, told CNN.
"It's a disruption and I
know from my perspective in preparing teams I prefer to be based in our
home location which is familiar and has all the requirements that the
players require.
"The impact of travel
can't be underestimated and with changing time zones comes much needed
adaptation and thus loss of valuable training time.
"Players are vulnerable
to injury when fatigued and travel will increase fatigue so if coaches
are not careful with training loads there are potential injury issues."
Last season the Premier League kicked off on August 18, but September
had the highest injury incidence rate of the season with 61 separate
problems recorded in the month, whereas December showed the lowest 0.46
per game, according to respected website Physio Room.
"This isn't unusual and often it's a problem with the preparation," said Duncan.
"Clubs sometimes expose
their players to a pre-season that has too great a training load. They
see it as a time to get in as much work as possible to get them ready
for the busy season ahead.
"However, the
consequence of this is fatigue, thus players head into the new season in
a fatigued state which exposes them to the risk of injury.
"Alternatively, if they
haven't been prepared adequately (training load too low) they are also
at risk at the onset of the season as the intensity is very high.
The club's coaching and medical staff work closely with the team to
create the schedule and ensure that, while on tour, time is allowed for
the players to recover from the travel and matches in each country we
visit. Rest periods are worked in to their schedule while away
Arsenal spokeswoman
Arsenal spokeswoman
"Preparation of a team
is a balancing act -- you must expose them to sufficient training load
to have the players ready but not too much so that they are overly
fatigued."
Dutch coach Raymond Verheijen agrees with Duncan that managers struggle to get the balance right in pre-season training.
"Most coaches make
fitness training too important in pre-season," said Verheijen. "They are
scared to death that their team will not be fit enough for the start of
the season.
"So, they train often
and train long. As result, players start to accumulate fatigue over time
as in the above situation it is impossible for them to recover between
sessions.
"On top of that, players
also have to play friendly games while not recovered. So, coaches are
compromising these friendly games by playing fatigued players."
The allure of Premier
League clubs can be seen by the 95,000 crowd that is expected to watch
Liverpool play Melbourne Victory on Wednesday.
Prior to arriving in
Australia, Liverpool were in Indonesia, when Asia-focused bank Standard
Chartered extended its sponsorship of the club, continuing one of the
most lucrative deals in English sport.
The bank, which makes
almost all its money in Asia, the Middle East and Africa -- regions
where Liverpool has a strong following -- has been the club's shirt
sponsor since July 2010.
The original deal was worth about $30.5 million a season and reportedly the new terms are broadly similar.
Liverpool did not
respond to CNN's questions regarding the financial importance of the Far
East or player well-being, but the club's former head of fitness and
conditioning Darren Burgess was more forthcoming.
"The attitude of the Liverpool players was outstanding when I was there," said Burgess, who is now high performance manager at Port Adelaide in Australia. "They realize it's part of playing for a big club.
"However there's no
doubt that the majority of coaches and players would rather complete
pre-season at their local training centers.
"They can train in
familiar surroundings, sleep in their own beds, have access to all the
equipment they would need and not have the physical and mental
interruption of travel.
"Physically it would definitely make for a more effective pre-season period.
"As far as countering
fatigue, we tried to get the players into the Asian time zone as soon as
possible and we adjusted training loads to avoid the injury risks
associated with long-haul flying and pre-season training.
"We monitored the
players heavily so we knew exactly who was coping with the
heat/travel/training and who wasn't so we'd like to think the injury
risk was minimized."
Premier League stars
better get used to spending more of their time out in Asia -- the
financial opportunities appear to be just too great to ignore.
"The support shown to us
since we arrived in Indonesia, Vietnam and now Japan has been
incredible," said the Arsenal spokeswoman.
I understand sport is business and brings great teams to these
nations and is wonderful for the local economy and residents but the
best thing for business is to win the league so the question is have we
got the balance right?
Dr Craig Duncan of the Australian Catholic University, who until recently was Sydney FC's head of human performance
Dr Craig Duncan of the Australian Catholic University, who until recently was Sydney FC's head of human performance
"Tens of thousands of
supporters have attended our activities and pre-season matches on tour
in Indonesia and Vietnam, and our first fixture in Nagoya in Japan has
already sold out days ahead of the fixture."
"A new generation of
supporters in each country is able to interact with the club first hand,
and we hope that builds a connection that lasts for many years to come.
As British sports business expert Simon Chadwick
points out for most Premier League clubs less than 10% of the annual
turnover comes from overseas sales, which means there is plenty of
potential growth abroad.
"Overseas markets are potentially an important source of sustainable revenues," said Chadwick.
"However, most clubs
lack either the expertise or the infrastructure to capitalize upon these
revenues, plus there is a physical limit to the amount of business a
club can do overseas.
"They simply can't go
and play in China each week where direct player/club relations are the
most important point of engagement for fans in places like China.
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