Prince William jokes about having police officer pose as mock sniper to put off football opponent at school

‘I was about 15 at the time, I said, ‘See, he’s following you, following you,’’ duke recalls on podcast

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The Duke of Cambridge has joked about having a protection officer pose as a mock sniper to deter opponents on the football field during his school days.

Prince William recently took part in a special episode of BBC Radio Five Live’s That Peter Crouch Podcast, during which he spoke about the Heads Up campaign, an initiative launched to encourage people within football to speak about mental health.

During his conversation with former professional footballer Peter Crouch, BBC sports journalist Tom Fordyce and radio presenter Chris Stark, the royal reminisced upon playing football as a teenager, describing his skills in a self-deprecating manner.

He also revealed how he employed sneaky tactics on the football pitch, asking a police officer to pretend to be a sniper by using a laser pen to shine a red dot on a rival player.

“A long time ago, I got one of my policemen to take a laser pen out with them. And I got him to red mark, red dot one of the players,” the 38-year-old said.

“I kept saying, ‘See, see what happened to you.’ I was about 15 at the time I said, ‘See, he’s following you, following you.’”

Laughing Crouch asked Prince William: “Pretending to have a sniper on him?” to which the duke replied: “Exactly... it put him off for about, you know, 10 minutes.”

He added that when he played football at school, "everyone wanted to break my legs".

When analysing how he would defend on the football pitch, Prince William described himself as “a fat knacker running around at the back, panting”.

The royal added that since becoming a father, football has become a far more significant aspect of his life than it was before.

“Since being a dad, without a doubt, football has become way more important to me than [it] ever used to, it’s really weird. Like it’s changed a lot,” he said.

“I need to go and be amongst other guys and kind of let out a bit of steam, shout a bit. Not abuse the referee – because I’m the president of the FA and I can’t do that – but in my head I am.”

During his conversation on the podcast, Prince William spoke to Crouch about how talking about mental health is not a sign of “weakness”, but is a sign of “strength”.

The royal stated that “we all have to stay mentally fit”, encouraging people to “talk about it” if they are “not feeling well” or if something is bothering them.

Crouch admitted that he has struggled in a “male-orientated” environment in the past, adding: “Any weakness shown is an excuse not to make it.”

However, when he started to talk about his mental health, “I did feel so much better, and that was just through talking,” the former England forward said.