Over the weekend I was listening to Neil Warnock’s phone-in show on Radio 5Live. The main topic of discussion was England’s poor showing against Algeria. Warnock – currently the manager of QPR – provided an excuse for England’s performance – boredom! He made the point repeatedly through his show and said the only things that the England players are doing at the moment are training, eating and sleeping. Many callers had no sympathy for the England players – even if Warnock’s view was right. I happen to think that boredom is something that the current England squad have to deal with – especially if stories of Fabio Capello’s strict regime are to be believed. Let’s look at things from the players’ perspective.
It is the night before a big match. The players are confined to staying in a hotel. No sex. No alcohol. No junk food. Basically, no access to all the things they may love. To pass time, footballers may watch television, play cards, or play a video game believing these are ‘healthier’ for them. However, any of these ‘healthier’ activities when taken to excess can cause problems. England goalkeeper David James once claimed his loss of form was because of his round-the-clock video game playing. In short, the top players are very well paid and inevitably have lots of time on their hands. These activities to overcome the boredom may lead to unintended consequences – particularly if one of the activities the players get up to is gambling.
Gambling and football have always been inextricably linked. Whether it is the football pools, a punt on who will win the FA Cup final, or a spread bet on the number of yellow cards to be handed out during World Cup, gamblers love betting on the outcome of football matches. It would also seem to be the case that there is a psychosocial subculture of gambling by footballers. The Birmingham City striker Kevin Phillips claimed that when he was part of Kevin Keegan’s England squad (as a Sunderland player in the 1990s), he was alienated by the other players for not taking part in the team’s pre-match gambling activities.
Phillips’ ex-strike partner at Sunderland, Niall Quinn, knows only too well the inherent dangers of gambling. While playing for Arsenal he regularly lost his whole week’s wages at the bookmakers inside an hour of getting it. Whilst he was never truly out of control, he did have to re-mortgage his flat to pay off gambling debts. Quinn says he was lucky not to be paid the kind of wages players get today as he would have lost more. Ex-footballer (and now TV and radio football pundit) Steve Claridge claimed in his autobiography to have blown £1m on gambling while the Blackburn winger Keith Gillespie became addicted after placing bets for team mates. By their own admission, ex-Arsenal and England players like Paul Merson and Tony Adams lost millions of pounds gambling and regularly attended Gamblers Anonymous. Paul Merson claims to have lost £7 million to gambling and cocaine, and was still having severe gambling problems over a decade after his football career had ended.
More recently, there have been a number of high-profile cases of top footballers with gambling problems. These include the Stoke winger Matthew Etherington and Tottenham striker David Bentley who was reported to be placing up to 100 bets a day on everything from horses and greyhounds to online poker and bingo. The most recent case to hit the headlines was Icelandic Tottenham player Eidur Gudjohnsen who was alleged to be in £6 million in debt because of his gambling despite a £3 million-a-year wages. While he was at Manchester United, the Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy said that “obscene” wages were fuelling constant gambling by other players in the team.
Peter Kay, the Chief Executive of the Sporting Chance clinic claims that footballer’s passion for football predisposes them to gambling problems. He said “If you have the kind of driven, obsessive character that it takes to become a professional footballer, with that tunnel-vision, then you are predisposed. I have not come across a football club where gambling does not play a part in the players’ lives. If a player is dropped from the team, this can often lead to depression and a craving for the buzz of football – sometimes found in gambling. It is acceptable to gamble. There have always been famous gamblers in football and for most it is enjoyable. But for around 10 per cent it is an addiction”
Time rich and money rich young footballers need to be educated about the potential downsides of excessive and/or high stakes gambling. Through the work of the Sporting Chance clinic, this is beginning to happen, but as footballers’ wages continue to increase, gambling is one activity that may place an increasing role in the lives of the players particularly if it is used to counteract the boredom.
Professor Mark Griffiths, psychologist, Nottingham Trent University
To speak to Mark, call the University Press Office directly on 0115 848 8785 or email worldcup@ntu.ac.uk
[To view Nottingham Trent University’s team of World Cup experts go to www.ntu.ac.uk/worldcup]
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