Dunfermline manager and former Celtic boss Neil Lennon appeared to take the edge off during a challenging Scottish Cup tie on Saturday afternoon by popping a snus on the touchline.
Lennon was captured by BBC cameras giving instructions to players with the score level at 0-0, before turning back to his assistant and tucking a pouch under his lip.
Snus is a tobacco product that comes in a sachet, which users place under their lip, before nicotine is released into the bloodstream.
It is illegal to be sold in the UK – although similar-looking nicotine pouches are not – but can be brought abroad, and it is not against the law to use.
Its usage does have associated health concerns however, with recent data highlighting a worrying rise in professional footballers using the product.
A 2024 study revealed that an eyebrow-raising one in five professional footballers use either snus or nicotine pouches, for either relaxation or perceived mental sharpness benefits.
Neil Lennon was spotted popping a pouch under his lip while managing Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup
Leicester legend and current Cremonese forward Jamie Vardy is one player who has been outspoken about his usage of snus, writing in his autobiography that he had started taking the product after joining the Foxes.
‘A lot more footballers use them than people realise and some lads even play with them during matches,’ Vardy added in his memoir.
In the summer of 2024, Ben White was pictured stocking up on nicotine pouches on holiday in Ibiza with his wife Milly.
Retired Man City star and popular pundit Micah Richards is also a fan of the stronger snus, with his CBS co-star Thierry Henry calling him out during a live broadcast for indulging in one of the pouches on air.
Snus is on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) monitoring list, which means that the substance is not banned outright for performance-enhancing properties, but continues to be a focus of ongoing study on how it might affect athletes.
But Lennon has been a long-term devotee of the practice, stating in 2018 that he has no problem with his players indulging.
‘I still use snus. All the Swedish boys used it when I played and that’s how I started it,’ Lennon, then the manager of Dunfermline’s Saturday opponent Hibernian. ‘I stopped and then brought Johan Mjallby back as my assistant and he got me back on it again.
‘It certainly isn’t going to enhance my performance, it’s just an addictive thing.
‘It’s just a habit but in terms of enhancing how players play – absolute rubbish. I wouldn’t ban it. Players can’t use it during a game because they’d choke, but it can relax them afterwards.
‘Especially after midweek games, it can help you come down a little bit – but it’s certainly not performance enhancing at all.
‘Put it this way, it did f*** all for me. Did you not see me play?’
Lennon’s side pulled off a late upset against their Premiership opponents, with Miguel Chaiwa handed his rivals the win after being involved in a freak own goal in the 92nd minute of play.
