NEWS COPY
Red card the turkey and send off Santa - millions of men say the best thing about Christmas is ... the FOOTBALL.
A fifth of British blokes say the thing they most look forward to over the festive season is the Boxing Day kick-off.
And a further 40 per cent said that being left to watch the matches alone would be a present all on its own.
A spokesman for matched betting site ProfitAccumulator.co.uk, who commissioned the poll of 2,000 men, said: “We knew that British blokes love their football, but we didn’t realise quite how much.
"In fact, it looks like they’d be willing to forego almost everything else at Christmas, as long as the packed fixture list was allowed to remain.
"Using a service like Profit Accumulator would be a great way to earn a bit of extra cash to pick up some presents, making the football even more enjoyable."
The average chap will spend seven hours watching footie over the festive period, including live games, highlights shows and catching goals online – and almost one in 10 reckon they’ll watch over 20 hours of the beautiful game.
But 30 per cent of men say their family get annoyed with the amount of football they watch.
Sports channel bosses will be rubbing their hands with glee as almost half of the nation’s blokes say they’re most likely to watch football at Christmas – more than those who'll watch a James Bond film, the Queen’s speech or even the manliest of festive films, Die Hard.
Four in 10 men say that their absolute favourite thing about the festive period is a full round of footie fixtures on Boxing Day or the packed football schedule - this beats out mince pies, the Christmas turkey and seeing relatives.
However the nation’s love affair with the sport only extends as far as watching - only five per cent of blokes will get out and play football themselves, preferring to get their fix on the TV.
Over half of the nation’s men reckon they’re likely to receive a disappointing present at Christmas, with 52 per cent glumly expecting to unwrap a pair of socks on the big day.
Four in 10 men regularly put bets on football matches, and three quarters of those use online apps, with 15 per cent heading into shops.
Nearly one in 10 blokes are more likely to put a bet on as a Christmas treat than at any other time of the year.
And it seems the key to a man’s happiness is easy – just make sure their team wins, with 55 per cent of blokes saying their Christmas period would be “ruined” if their team lost every game over the period.
A spokesman for ProfitAccumulator.co.uk said: "Naff presents, disappointing turkey and not getting a minute’s peace can make the Christmas period tricky, but at least there’s always football to offer an escape.
"We may not be able to guarantee a good result for your team, but at least we can make watching the game a bit more exciting by using our service."
For more information, click here: www.profitaccumulator.co.uk/male-football-fans-reveal-christmas-attitudes-memories-confessions
ENDS
