OFFALY FOOTBALLER Niall McNamee has opened his heart about his recovery from gambling addiction in the first of a series of searingly honest personal blogs.
In late 2011 the Rhode man revealed that he was addicted to gambling and that it had cost him €200,000. He lost his way, relationships with friends and family were strained, he lost interest in football and ended up €80,000 in debt.
He has been in recovery since placing his last bet on 13 November, 2011 — two years ago today — and he has decided to write about his experiences in a blog about gambling addiction.
“I have no idea what horse I backed or where it ran but what I do know is that it lost,” said McNamee, a brilliant forward and 2006 Allstar nominee, recalling his last bet.
“It had got to a stage that I was no longer able to leave a bookies unless all of my money was gone or the nice lady behind the counter was turning off the TV because they were closing.
“If I was ‘lucky’ enough to have left with some money in my pocket it didn’t matter, I knew I would be back the next day to give it all back. That night, the following morning, my entire day in work, my head would be consumed with thoughts of doubling, trebling, quadrupling my winnings from the day before.
“Whatever debts or troubles I had would be wiped out if I could just have that one big win to get me back on track.
“And I had done it before. There were times when I would have turned the smallest amount of money into a huge sum in the space of a couple of hours That was the problem for me, no matter how much I had lost I still had the belief that I could win it all back.
“But things were different now, I owed a lot of money and the desperation within me made me make very bad decisions. I convinced myself that gambling, the thing that got me into this mess, was going to get me out of it.”
McNamee reveals how he once won €8,000 in three days. He lost it all in a single day. He sold his car for half its value to feed his habit, which started out as a €50 punt every Saturday during his student days in UCD before spiralling out of control.
He spent all his money on losing bets and couldn’t afford to eat so he used to sneak into his parents’ house when it was empty, take food, return home and cook it so that nobody would know.
He convinced himself that this was normal behaviour.
In the winter of 2009 he broke down and confessed what was happening to his father and it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He didn’t gamble for a couple of months but he didn’t discuss his problem with anyone else either and before long he was back in the bookies.
He was, as he says, ‘ducking and diving’ – trying to avoid the back and creditors or anyone else who might suspect what was going on.
He finally confronted his demons and in late 2011 he sought help. He told his father the full story and sought help through Gamblers Anonymous. Then-Offaly manager Gerry Cooney is a counsellor at the Rutland Centre, where McNamee underwent five weeks of treatment, and he was a source of help too.
“The hardest thing for me to do was to admit to someone the trouble I was after getting myself into, financially but more important morally,” writes McNamee in his blog post.
“I had done a lot of things I wasn’t proud of and this was eroding away my soul and my spirit. I knew I was a good person but somewhere along the way I lost sight of the important things in life like my family and friends.
“It is two years since I have had a bet and for that I am very proud and grateful. I will thank God tonight for keeping me safe today and will ask him to do the same tomorrow. I will go into this a lot more in later blogs but as a start I hope this helps. I know one person it has definitely helped, me.”
Read Niall’s full blog post here; Follow him on Twitter: @niallmc14
Gaa players seem a bit sensitive lol
It is a silly article, these people are given a page on a Sunday paper to write about whatever topic they choose. GAA players are amateurs, there is no comparison to be made. The mind boggles.
I think that gaa players are being told and starting to believe that they could go and play in the premier league or the championship and perform for a 32 game league and cut it when as amateurs they clearly couldn’t.thats what hunt is pointing out really.hes just saying how important rest is in between training and matches
I’d be much more GAA than soccer but if he said most GAA players wouldn’t have the talent to make it in the premiership I’d have to agree.
PL clubs have the money to buy the best in the world and it is highly unlike we’d have a load of guys crack it from our tiny country if the GAA lads tried their hand at it. I can accept that no problem.
The problem I’d have with his comments is that a man who never came across as the sharpest knife in the drawer is trying to make out that GAA lads are not his equal mentally!
I’d never have thought Hunty was the sharpest tool in the box either, but his Sindo articles reveal the opposite. They are fast becoming my first-read article in the sports pages. His insights into Trap’s attitudes, why the players appreciate Glenn Whelan etc are usually very interesting. I think Hunt was clearly irked by Joe Brolly but was foolish to respond with a sweeping statement about GAA players. However, I did like the comment about role models. Football is so high profile now and over-exposed in the media that some idiot diving will get ten times the publicity of Laurent Koscielny giving 600k to a factory in his home town to save it from closure. A kid who escapes a sink estate and a life in gangs because he worked hard at his talent and became a footballer is every bit as inspiring as a an educated GAA or rugby man being well behaved on the pitch. I also think Hunt was trying to say that despite the headlines of the likes of Ched Evans the vast majority are very professional and look after themselves well, at the expense of a fun lifestyle. I suspect there’s some truth in that.
The level of ignorance regarding fitness and conditioning of professional players versus amateurs is astounding here. Simply no comparison so stop kidding yourselves with it. It’s just embarrassing and showing the bias in some GAA parts to anything outside parochial part time amateur games. He’s right whether ye like it or not. Get informed and speak to a pro if you know any…..
The way I read it, I thought he was actually complimenting GAA players with a sarcastic jibe about the mundane life of the soccer players. I reckon he knows well the hard commitment of the GAA stars, who possibly don’t do sarcasm too often.
Or maybe I’m wrong and he’s really just stirring it up.
Of course they are sensitive,they know they are working as hard as any pro footballer,but they are being used and abused for their stupidity and loyalty,who cares anyway,its a mickey mouse game ,,outside of the parish no one knows them or cares about them or their sport !!!!we dont remember the hurling or football finals of 88 90 94 02,but we do remember the irish soccer teams performances on the international stage in those years!!!ps Brolly needs a slap!
That is a daft comment there are loads of people up and down the country who could probably recall every All -Ireland final for the last 20 years. I’m from Tipp and I remember every hurling final Tipp have played in since I was born, and could probably name you the starting lineup and give you a small bio for each player. I also remember ‘having a macedonia’, Euro ’12 and this gem from last week….. https://vine.co/v/O1d6DQeDwvq. (actually a soccer fan,but it’s getting harder by the day). I hate to be agreeing with Joe Brolly on his high horse, but in general soccer players are not role models (the Irish players are much better than most) or at least you hope kids are not looking up to the likes Yaya Toure, Ryan Giggs, Mario Ballotelli, Ched Evans, John Terry, Luis Suarez…. even golden boy multi – millionaire Lionel Messi is dodging his taxes…..
soccer players are good role models for kids tho? you could pick out a handfull of GAA players and put them in the same spot as you just put the soccer players in with a bad reputation.
loads of GAA HEADS
soccer players are more under pressure to get a result every week,essentially the fans paying in are paying your wages, it’s mental pressure on top of soccer players covering a lot more ground on the field as well,gaa players at inter county level play 5 or 6 games to get to an all ireland final and they play maybe another 5 or 6 serious games with their clubs and then you have league games which if you go to they just stroll around the place,hunt is right in what he’s saying,gaa players wouldn’t last a full season playing soccer and if they tried I think would you see a lot of pulled muscles and injuries with the gaa boys,that’s what he means about rest
Seen one fella saying we would see a lot of pulled muscles etc if GAA players were in the premier league, am i the only person who think a soccer player wouldnt last 5 minutes on a gaelic pitch before needing to be carried off? Wouldnt give them more than 30 seconds on a hurling pitch either
His argument about commitment highlights just how out of touch these millionaire soccer players have gotten, many top level GAA players would probably do a similar level of training before and after work, spend their intercounty ‘off season playing for their club/schools/university teams’ as well as helping out with some coaching…
Ah this is just to funny good man Stephen Hunt all the gaa heads fierce sensitive
Irelands fittest sportmen,
Gaa v Hurling v Soccer v Rugby v Golf!!!
Imagine Padraig Harrington vs Paul O’Connell in a wrestling match!
Well firstly there are exceptions in every code and it really depends on the kind of fitness your talking about. I mean professional rugby players would put most to shame in the gym to be fair, but in terms of endurance you would be hard pushed to see past Gaelic footballers as in it’s current give and go handpassing guise the level of hard running required is pretty extreme. I’m sure McIlroy is pretty fit, but any sport where John Daly or Miguel Jimenez can succeed can hardly lay any major claims. Hurling still (thankfully) places more emphasis on the technical aspects of the games. Soccer obviously has a high level of cardio fitness but obliviously has a problem with core strength the way they keep falling over…. https://vine.co/v/O1d6DQeDwvq
Or Shane Lowry against Keith earls in a sprint
Now thats a competition I would love to see, get someone like J.P. McManus to put forward a prize fund (100,000 should attract the soccer lads!) and have a competition based on several aspects of fitness…finish off with the winner having a battle to the death against Hunt!!
Is everyone missing the point here. Soccer players get paid thousands of pounds per week, it is not comparable!!!!
Wasn’t the greatest article but he hardly said anything too bad about GAA players, who have once again proven themselves to be some of the most precious bunch of sweethearts the sporting world has ever seen.
Stephen Hunt is a footballer???
how he made a living out been a footballer is a mystery league 2 was always his level