Snus In Football: What Is It And Why Is It Used?
The life of a professional footballer can be rather insular. Clubs and their coaching teams expect players to report for training each morning and remain there for several hours, eating specific meals, completing training drills, and sticking to tailored fitness plans, before heading home and relaxing with family or spending more time with their teammates. Once or twice a week, squads will congregate and travel to a match together, often staying in a hotel overnight beforehand. As a result of this constant close proximity, players in the same squads typically get to know each other extremely well, and most of their lives will be centred around the day-to-day activities of the club.
One consequence of this is that trends and fashions can catch hold and spread quickly amongst pro footballers, whether it's hobbies and pastimes, outfits, or nutritional choices. And a habit that has become widespread amongst many footballers over the last few years is the use of the product snus. Many people are still unsure exactly what this substance is, and that's why in this article we'll be explaining what snus is and what it's used for in football, as well as exploring just how prevalent it is in the modern game.
What Is Snus?
A few years ago, snus was a relatively unknown quantity, both in the world of football and in wider society. But now, its imprint on the game is undeniable. There have been recent reports from numerous people involved in professional football that a large number of players are regularly using snus. One Training Ground Guru article reported that former Bristol City, Sunderland and Hibernian coach Lee Johnson had called the product "a big big problem" within the game. But what exactly is snus and why has it become so popular?
Pronounced "snoose", snus is a smokeless, moist powder tobacco pouch that users place underneath their top lip, inside their mouth. Produced in Sweden, snus comes in various different flavours including mint, citrus, watermelon, berry and licorice. It was first designed in Sweden as a way to preserve tobacco, and has since been used there as a way of helping to lower smoking rates. This has also been the case in other Scandinavian countries like Norway, where snus is seen as a useful way of cutting down on or quitting smoking. However, amongst certain sections of the population, particularly young people, snus has also been taken up by many non-smokers, too. This is reflected in the football industry, where usage has reached substantial levels.
An article in The Athletic reported that two years ago, one unnamed EFL manager found 75% of his players had snus stashed away in their lockers. After more concerns were raised, a recent survey was commissioned by the PFA with Lougborough University (which had a total sample size of 628 male participants and 51 female participants). It found that 18% of male players and 22% of female players use snus or nicotine pouches. According to the report, 42% of the men and 39% of the women surveyed have tried the substance at least once in the past. Interestingly, many current snus users seem to be aiming to quit, with over half of them suggesting that they want to give up snus in the next 12 months. The reason for that? There are concerns about how good snus is for you.
How Dangerous Is Snus?
Despite the fact that it contains tobacco, snus is a smoke-free product and doesn't come with many of the health risks of tobacco smoking. However, many people within the game are still worried about the risks players are running by using it. According to Lee Johnson, snus is "very detrimental to development and performance". Meanwhile, Michael Steinberg, MD, MPH, director of the Tobacco Dependence Program at Rutgers University (and therefore an expert on the subject) has said that "Compared to cigarette smoking, the use of snus is probably less harmful… But there's a big difference between 'less harmful' and 'safe'."
According to WebMD, Steinberg added that snus products "still contain thousands of chemicals… they still contain nicotine. They're addictive, and they affect the cardiovascular system and increase the risk of cancer. They're still tobacco products." Research reportedly shows that one teabag-esque pouch of snus has three times the amount of nicotine as a normal cigarette, which is understandably a cause for concern for managers and club staff worried about the health of their players and the danger of being addicted to potentially dangerous substances.
On top of that, there are potential links to pancreatic and oesophageal cancer, with the same WebMD article reporting that "Pancreatic cancer rates are higher in snus users, although still low overall, and not every study shows that link. Snus is also tied to a greater chance of heart failure - plus a greater chance of dying afterward if you continue using it - and diabetes."
If we take a step back and look at the wider picture, we see that snus isn't the only alternative to smoking that has grown in use lately. Over the last few years, young people across the world have embraced the bright colours and sweet, fruit-flavoured vapour of e-cigarettes and vapes. European governments have attempted to crack down on both smoking and vaping in the hopes of creating a "smoke-free generation", but tobacco alternatives are still widely used and it's in this context that snus has become more popular amongst both footballers and younger people in general. So what exactly is it about this substance that is getting football players in particular hooked?
Why Do Football Players Use Snus?
Health is a key priority for all professional football players; in order to perform at the top level, pros need to be extremely fit, with nutritional, well-tailored diets and a rigorous exercise routine to ensure they keep in top shape. A key part of this is avoiding drinking alcohol or smoking — players might enjoy a couple of drinks after a particularly big win on a Saturday, but during the season the vast majority of professionals avoid alcohol completely, and maintaining the levels of cardiovascular fitness needed to compete at the top level means smoking is a complete no-go.
Bertrand Traoré il a calé son snus en sous-marin 😠pic.twitter.com/WkS5at0Uua
— Alm🗣 (@Ali1cinq) February 18, 2023
For that reason, snus has become a popular alternative for players who are looking to consume something that will give them some kind of lift — whether physical or psychological— without having adverse health affects. Much like smoking cigarettes, one of the key uses of snus is to help relieve anxiety and stress. However, snus reportedly has other effects that can be particularly useful for professional athletes looking to find gains on the pitch.
The tobacco product is reputedly popular amongst players because of the way it can increase alertness and suppress appetite, as well as potentially inducing a state of calmness. According to the aforementioned anonymous EFL manager, players "were convinced it gave them an edge on the pitch".
According to the PFA study on snus, "Players reported mostly using snus and nicotine pouches socially to relax and spend time with teammates, with the most common times for use after training, post-game and on days off. Anecdotally, club staff indicated that players would look to snus to help 'unwind' from the adrenaline of an evening game." Admittedly, most ordinary fans will struggle to understand how intense that post-match feeling must be for players, especially after a huge midweek Champions League game under the lights, for example.
Snus has emerged as an effective method for getting back to a calm state after this high-intensity environment, and players will take all the help they can get when it comes to fine-tuning their post-match recovery.
Is Snus Banned In Football?
It's worth stating at this juncture that snus is a specific brand, produced in Sweden, and there are other brands manufacturing smokeless tobacco or nicotine pouches to be placed under the top lip. These brands are often lumped in with snus and referred to using the same name, for convenience. In the UK, it's illegal to sell tobacco-based snus, following the UK's ban on the sale of all oral tobacco products in 1992 (part of the Tobacco for Oral Use (Safety) Regulations, implemented as a European Union directive). However, it is not illegal to consume snus in the UK.
The established presence of many Swedish players and coaches in the English football pyramid means it has been very easy for Scandinavians to introduce the product to their teammates and highlight its apparent benefits. In addition, to get around the UK laws on snus, many companies have started creating all-white nicotine pouches that fly under the radar. According to the PFA, the vast majority of football players surveyed use legal tobacco-free nicotine pouches instead of snus. Either way, the term 'snus' has stuck and is now used as a catch-all for nicotine pouches.
People within the game are actively trying to find solutions to the rise of snus in football. The clinical psychologist Dr. Chris James told The Athletic that the substance can lead to chronic sleep problems, while the PFA's report cited one player suffering from heart problems linked to the product, and also found that 36% of players using the addictive substance reported cravings. Knowledge about snus is still fairly limited, but it's pretty clear that its widespread use in professional football is something that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.
Check out our interview with player care expert Hugo Scheckter if you'd like to find out more about what clubs can do to strengthen relationships with their players, and make improvements to their general health and wellbeing.