10,000 yards...

Sir Bobby Robson, the great soccer manager, used to play professionally in the top flight back in the sixties. He says that one of the biggest differences between then and now was that in his day, he used to run maybe 6,000 yards in a game. Players today run an average of 10,000.

In other words, they are working about 60% harder than they did in his day.

When I was growing up, my father worked hard, but he was home by six o'clock. My mother also worked hard in the house, but she took up golf to a pretty good standard after she had me and my four siblings. They had friends round for dinner.

I rarely (except when we were being driven, drag-racing style, to church) had the sense in our house that my parents were short of time or had a timetable to meet. In our family, we had time to talk, time to think.

Nowadays, however, time is always under pressure. So many things fill the time we have, from kids activities to domestic paperwork to work...

Footballers aren't the only ones who have to run faster and harder these days. We all do.

This isn't a complaint, you understand. Football today is so much more entertaining, skillful and fast than it used to be. I have had many more opportunities, more education, more experiences than my parents had.

But it might be nice sometimes not to have to run at all. Sometimes, we just want to sit, rest and watch the butterflies flit about a summer meadow.

- Drib