Manchester United central defender Chris Smalling, these days sporting a hairdo reminiscent of ’90s hip-hop icon Busta Rhymes, has had a vegan diet for over a year. In August he gave a very revealing interview in which he credited his new vegan diet for the recent durability that he’s been able to achieve on the pitch.
The English international believes veganism has played an integral part in helping him to better avoid injury, recover from fatigue faster and make the transition from offseason to regular season much quicker.
Now Smalling has participated in a brand-new PETA campaign, in which he encourages animal rights by proclaiming: “Be Their Biggest Defender. Try Vegan!”
In the football above Smalling discusses what led him to embrace vegan eating:
“I realized how brutal [animal agriculture] is to animals, how unnecessary it is to us, and how damaging it is to the environment.”
“I had a lot of tendonitis in my knee, and then once I went fully vegan, all those symptoms just dropped away.”
This isn’t the first time that he’s worked with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Smalling previously appeared in a PETA U.K. campaign warning people of the dangers of leaving their animal companions in hot cars.
Chris Smalling and United, who fell 4-2 to Arsenal yesterday in Premier League competition, will next take on Wolverhampton Wanderers in FA Cup quarterfinal action on Saturday.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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