[kearnyirish2]

“Anyone can play it, don’t have to be tall, don’t have to be super strong. That is a good thing about Soccer.”

Anyone can play it, but it takes a lot to be good at it (including the ability to play for 90 minutes, only broken by half-time). With limited substitutions and no time-outs, endurance is key to soccer; it has no fat people.

[BeadCounter]

It depends on what you mean by "fat", both Paul Gascoigne and Diego Maradona could be classified as fat. It is turning in that direction I note, whereas you might have ten people outside of the goalkeeper who are trim like GQ models but at a youth soccer level, heavy individuals can still get into teams.

http://www.theoffside.com/world-football/footballs-fatties.html

So, professionally that may be so and that has basically changed over the past 20 years or so but I think there are still exceptions and it may not apply uniformly to youth soccer.

2 of the alltime greats, Ronaldo and Diego Maradona, Maradona incidentally was booted from the '94 Cup for using a diet pill with a prohibited substance, likewise, Tuore of Ivory Coast got in trouble for using diet pills. They wouldn't be using diet pills if they did not have problems with their weight.

We get it, running for 90 minutes is an endurance sport however, that same kind of thinking does not mean the team with the best endurance wins. Playermakers, creative play is what usually wins.

Paul Gascoigne fits the mode too.

Fattest Footballers: 10. Mark Bosnich 9. Mido 8. Adriano 7. Benni McCarthy 6. Neville Southall 5. Gazza 4. Neil Ruddock 3. Willie ‘Fatty’ Foulke 2. Diego Maradona 1. Ronaldo

Of course, the Brazilian Ronaldo and not Cristiano is referred to