They call me Darren Anderton…

• 2005-2006 season – busted ankle after stepping in a pot hole on the pitch.  Out for a month.

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• 2006-2007 season – sprained other ankle after stepping on someone else’s ankle.  Out for a month.

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• 2009-2010 season – ruptured meniscus in knee after someone ran into me.  Out for six weeks.

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• 2010-2011 season – out for three weeks with swollen knee after someone runs into me.  Out for ???

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That’s right… I’m currently nursing an injury that has seen me dosed up on ibubrofen for what seems like forever.  As well as being barely lucid, I’ve also been moaning like a grumpy old man… touchy, grumpy, lethargic and struggling to sleep.  Ask Nik… I’ve not been a pleasure to be around.  All this after what I initially thought was a dead leg in the last minute of an ‘already in the bag’ football match two weeks ago.  Next thing I know, the swelling has migrated from my left thigh to my left knee and I can’t bend the damn thing.  The swelling took a good week to go down, leaving severe bruising and a real numb, throbbing pain every time I went from bent leg to straight leg.  Leading to many a sleepless night.  Basically, these past two weeks have been anything but fun and though the pain has finally subsided, I’m still left limping around like some wannabe rude boy!

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The long and short of it all is that, as melodramatic as it sounds, I’ve been contemplating retiring from the beautiful game.  It sounds ridiculous I know (and who actually cares, right)!  I play for a decent team in the Bromley and Croydon Christian League that manages about 25 games a a season.  I don’t get paid for it and truth be told I’ve never set the world on fire.  Still I love doing it… At 29, I’ve lost a yard of pace about five years too early.  The problem for me seems to be the regularly occurring injuries.  I just seem to get the most innocuous knocks every once in a while that turn into life stalling ailments!

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This latest one has really got me thinking, is it really worth it.  I’ve got nothing done theses past two weeks and have been a sod to be around.  I’ve not been able to swim (sponsored to swim the channel you see!), I’ve missed out on my grading at jujitsu and the music… well that’s just falling by the wayside!

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It’s not like the injuries have been bad, it’s more that they’ve been a series of small niggles that become a major disruption to real life.  Plus I’m tired of getting no sleep just because my knee hurts!

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Maybe it’s time to hang up the boots…