I’d be a gardener if I didn’t play for Arsenal and England… watching football bores me
BEN WHITE says he would have tried to be the best gardener in the world if he had not gone into football.
The England and Arsenal defender is known for not being 24/7 consumed by all aspects of the Beautiful Game.
Even though he could end up with a Premier League winners’ medal in the coming months – the Gunners are holding off the challenge of Manchester City with 12 matches left – the 25-year-old does not watch matches during his spare time.
Growing up on the Dorset coast in Poole, White admits there was a realistic chance he could have followed the green-fingered route of his dad Barry.
Instead of playing on lovely-manicured pitches each week, he could have been the one mowing them to perfection!
White said: “I’d probably be working with my dad if I wasn’t a footballer. He used to be a gardener.
“I think that’s why there was never any pressure on me growing up, because I would have been very happy with that.
“I went into football but it would have been no problem for me to do what my dad did.
“I never used to watch football much anyway. If it was on when I was a kid, after five minutes I’d get bored of it and go outside to play football.
“I didn’t really watch it, I’d much rather do it. Even now, I don’t watch football really.
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“I watch my own clips and my own footage to help me improve but I wouldn’t watch a game for fun.
“I’m obsessed with being the best I can be and being successful and that would have been in anything I did.
“I always want to do the most I can to be a success.
“So, if I had gone into gardening, it would have been the same.
“My profession just happens to also be a lot of people’s hobby. They look forward to every Saturday to watch the game and that’s great.
“But for me it’s about being on the pitches every day, trying to constantly be the best you can be. That’s the bit I really love.
“When I come into the training ground, it’s all about football – 100% focus. Then when I leave, I switch off from it.
“I don’t think my dad has ever said to me: ‘Shall we watch a game on TV?’ He absolutely isn’t interested in that, I don’t think he’s ever watched one on TV.”