Ben White has cleared up confusion over whether he hates football after previously admitting he does not watch it in his downtime.
Footballers are generally presumed to be obssessed with the sport, with many admitting that they spend a lot of their time off watching wahtever game happens to be on TV.
But Arsenal defender White raised eyebrows when he conceded in past interviews that he doesn’t engage with it once he leaves the training ground. The story that he hates the sport also gained traction after he pulled out of the England squad during the 2022 World Cup for personal reasons and went home – amid rumours of a bust-up with Gareth Southgate’s assistant coach Steve Holland, which Southgate always denied.
He has made himself unavailable for international selection ever since. with interim boss Lee Carsley confirming last month that White “has asked to be not contacted” regarding a potential call-up.
In an interview with ex-England and Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster, the 27-year-old has now set the record straight about the situation and clarified his previous remarks.
“No, of course not,” White responded when asked by Foster if he hates football in an Amazon Prime Video interview. “It was a massive thing, there were a few things that I said. Obviously I don’t watch it.
‘For me, it’s not a big deal. That’s why I said it at the time. Training, the amount of videos you have to do every day, it’s so extreme, so when I come home I just want to forget about it.
“[My dogs] are literally my life, so no football on, don’t talk about it when I come home, mum and dad don’t speak to me about it, it’s just like it’s not my job basically.
“People think that I don’t love it, and obviously I don’t watch it, but I could probably tell you most things about every winger that I play against or the attributes that I’m going to have to come up against on the weekend.
“Playing right-back, there’s so many good left-wingers, every game they’re the best player. If you look at every team, one or two, they’re the best.”
White didn’t address the ongoing England situation in the interview but did say that he believes his ability to switch off from football away from the training ground makes him a better player.
“It helps me when I come home from football, I completely de-stress and don’t think about it,” he added. “The next day I’m 100 per cent focused.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, White has no desire to become a pundit or football media personality when he eventually retires from playing. He recently started a fashion brand, called Fraternite, with some friends and occasionally poses in their clothes on social media but has another, less glamorous idea about what he might do in retirement.
“After football, I don’t really know what I’m going to do yet. I was actually thinking about being a dog walker!” he explained. “Get a little van, do something like that.
“I don’t need too much. I like simple things. I don’t want to be a pundit.”