Bale: “A lot of people have issues with me playing golf”

Real Madrid attacker Gareth Bale appeared on the Erik Anders Lang Show to talk about golf and shared his thoughts about the controversy surrounding his hobby. Bale has often been faced criticism in the Spanish press for “showing more passion towards golf than football” and he also posed alongside a “Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order” banner when Wales were celebrating their future presence in the UEFA Euro.

“It shouldn’t be a problem for me to play golf but it is. A lot of people have issues with the fact that I play golf, I don’t know why. I’ve talked about it many times with the doctors and everyone is fine with it,” said Bale.

The Welshman also mentioned that other athletes play golf before their competitive games without an issue.

“In America, I know Steph Curry plays maybe on the morning of a game. Here, if I play two days before a game it’s like ‘what’s he doing?” added Bale, who also explained why he likes golf that much.

“I just like going out to play, thinking I’ve got 18 holes ahead of me. You can get away from the football, away from anything negative that’s going on, and reset your mind, and the next day you feel a bit more fresh and ready to go and concentrate and feel better about football again,” concluded the attacker.

Bale completed a disappointing first half of the 2019-2020 season but could try to bounce back as soon as La Liga restarts the competition. Rotations will be crucial for Real Madrid and Bale should have minutes to prove that he can still make an impact for this club.