Fraser Franks
Short Biography...
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How did you feel when you made your debut?
Nervous, but actually it worked out quite well for me. I was a really fearful, nervous young player, but my debut got sprung on me a couple of hours before kickoff. Two defenders went down ill and injured, and me and another 18-year-old were chucked in and a game that was live on TV to make our debuts. It was against the team that was top of the league. So if I had a long time to build up to that, I'd have been extremely nervous, but I actually didn't have much time. I wasn't expecting to play and I was just chucked in two hours before the game, but ended up getting mad at the match on tv, which was a big one for me and an amazing feeling afterwards. I remember getting a huge round of applause and yeah, I felt like I'd finally sort of arrived as a footballer at that point.
How old were you when you retired?
I was 28 years Old when I retired.
How did you cope with your nerves?
Through experience, I learned how to deal with 'em a little bit better. Probably the main thing that I wish I'd done was have someone that I could talk about it openly with. I felt like I was the only player that was feeling the way that I did, but when you come out of it, when you get a bit older and you talk to other players, everyone's going through the same thing. They're probably just hiding it in different ways. So knowing that I wasn't the only one feeling that way would've been nice. And then just having someone that you can openly express that with that can help you so you're not just containing it all the time and trying to deal with it on your own.