Footballer Hobbies

Footballers have unusually long hours of idle time, unlike us normal people who have to work from 9 to 5 and then some more. Also armed with more money than most of us will ever see, these footballers start indulging in their whims and fancies. Some like Michael Owen own racehorses and gambles in their spare time. Christiano Ronaldo buys Bentleys, Ferraris and more recently luxury watches. He has started investing in his future, stockpiling on antique watches. Smart lad that one.

What you may not know is that there are even weirder hobbies for the superstar footballer. Duncan Ferguson, the ex-Everton battering ram, is a keen pigeon fancier. No, it doesn't mean he's a queer or a weirdo. Pigeon fanciers are name given to a hobbyist who rears and races pigeons. Former Argentina hot-shot Gabriel Batistuta likes to go hunting in the wild with a rifle. And if you are wondering why Italy playmaker Alessandro Del Piero always manages to skip past defenders with ease, that's because his favourite past-time is dancing to the soundtrack of The Full Monty. When Italy's World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro has free time, he spends it cooking pizzas at home. Legendary Manchester United crash victim, Duncan Edwards loves to do a spot of Scottish sword dancing. This involved placing two sabre swords in a cross shape on the floor and dancing between them. Duncan would visit schools in his kilt and perform something similar to a Highland fling.

Former striker Andy Cole and his former Manchester United team-mate, Rio Ferdinand, fancy themselves as top deejays, producing their own rap tracks. West Ham defender Christian Dailly prefers rock n'roll. The Scotland international is the lead singer and guitarist of a band named Hooligan. Defender Jody Craddock seeks serenity in art, painting potraits of footballers like Wayne Rooney and Henry on canvas. Liverpool's Daniel Agger is a qualified tattooist and he has pledged to give all Liverpool players a tattoo if they win the Premiership...looks like it will have to wait for another season.

Some other players prefer keeping pets. Newly appointed Ipswich manager, Roy Keane is known for his love for dogs. Inspirational Matthew Oakley had nine red-bellied piranhas delivered to him for his enjoyment. Dimi Berbatov feeds squirrels on his balcony when he is not lazing about on the Old Trafford pitch on match days. Some footballers are avid collectors. The extremely smart and wealthy Robbie Fowler spends his spare time and spare cash investing in a huge portfolio of landed property. There is even a terrace chant to "We all live in a Robbie Fowler house" sung to the tune of the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" to highlight just how incredibly astute "God" had been in his business investments. His success has led to other footballers such as John Terry and Gary Neville also investing in luxury properties both local and abroad. France and Marseille striker Djibril Cisse is a keen collector of vintage American cars. England and Portsmouth goalkeeper David James, though, collects Matchbox toy cars. Moritz Volz, the German fullback, is a Hoff-obsessed i.e. he is a collector of all things related to David Hasselhoff. Not a surprise as the Hoff is an icon back in Germany. Still, a grown man collecting David Hasselhoff memorablia? Stranger things have happened.

Going into more hard core hobbies, Reading's American goalkeeper, Marcus Hahnemann loves to get grease all over his hands as he works on his race cars and dragsters. Wigan's versatile Paul Scharner gets his inspiration from extreme sports such as bungee jumping and parachuting. Not something that Steve Bruce will be too keen to know about.

Cant quite decide who's got the most unusual hobby. Some are quirky and some hobbies are rather more straightforward. Maybe you can help me by voting as to who has the most unusual hobby. Help me decide please.