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Star Offaly Footballer Lifts The Lid On Gamling Addiction

Thursday, 12 January 2012

Niall McNamee has revealed he received five weeks of treatment for gambling.

McNamee First Revealed Gambling Problem At Rhode GAA AGM

OFFALY senior football star, Niall McNamee sensationally lifted the lid on a life-defining battle with a gambling addiction this week but he took the first tentative steps to recovery in the latter months of 2011.
McNamee has revealed how he gambled over €200,000 in recent years and how he owes €80,000 while he has received intensive treatment for a problem that has dominated his life, despite managing to play football at a consistently high level at the same time.
While news of the extent of McNamee's gambling and the grip it had on his life came as a surprise to many people in an interview in Monday's Irish Independent, it was a closely guarded secret among a small circle of people in his native Rhode and closer afield for some time.
Few knew the exact extent of his gambling but there had been whispers for some time that the brilliantly talented Rhode forward was in problem territory and was losing more money than he could afford.
Towards, the end of last year, these whispers became more and more vocal - There had been surprise when McNamee came out last Autumn and voiced his public displeasure at the delay in appointing a new Offaly manager: Two Rhode colleagues, Tom Coffey and Stephen Darby were among the contenders for the job that eventually went to Gerry Cooney, a Tullamore native who has lived in Meath for most of his life.
McNamee suggested at the time that he would not play football for Offaly again and this caused obvious concerns among supporters as he is by far the best footballer in the county and represents the single best chance of making progress in the coming years.
The Offaly GAA County Board came in for widespread criticism at the time over the delay in appointing management but McNamee's outspoken comments were still a surprise, not only in terms of their ferocity and what he threatened but also the fact that he went public about it as he has never sought or embraced a high profile despite being arguably the greatest footballer Offaly has produced since the great Matt Connor.
At the end of November, however, it became clear that McNamee had a lot more on his mind than football and news that he had made a sensational statement about his gambling problem at the Annual General Meeting of Rhode GAA Club spread far beyond the hundred plus people at the meeting.
It is a sign of his immense popularity and the respect that McNamee holds that his right to privacy was upheld and his problems did not enter the public domain - Within hours of the Rhode meeting ended, this reporter was told of the content of McNamee's statement but it was only right that he was given the space and time to deal with his problems in his own way and to come public about it at a time of his own choosing, if he opted to go down this road.
Ironically, considering his threat not to play for the county, McNamee started on the road to rehabilitation after a meeting with new Offaly manager, Gerry Cooney, a senior counsellor in the Rutland Centre in Dublin, where he entered on November 23 for five weeks of intensive therapy - His letter was read out at the Rhode GAA AGM two days later, where he told his friends and neighbours of his problem and his decision to seek treatment.
McNamee had initially faced up to the extent of his problem after a discussion with his father John in the middle of November.
He told the Irish Independent: 'I would have been gambling heavily for the last five to six years, but I would have known over the last three, maybe four years that I had a major problem.
'I would have gone to my parents a number of times and they would have bailed me out. And I would have sworn to them then that was the end of it. At the time I would have meant it. I wanted to stop but I never did anything about it. But over the last couple of months I could just feel the walls coming in around me.
'That night my father wasn't cross with me. It was just concern. He called down to the house. I had been ignoring his phone calls. He'd been ringing me maybe for a week and I'd answered the odd time.
'I'd talk to him and tell him everything was all right but he knew something was wrong. I was denying it for twenty minutes or so. I was saying, look I have everything sorted and then I just broke down and came clean. It was the best thing I've ever done. It was a weight off my shoulders.'
The following day McNamee met Cooney in Enfield and after Cooney outlined the options, he agreed to enter the Rutland Centre.
Informing the Rhode GAA AGM was another step on the road to recovery.
'I wanted to to it because they are the people I would have grown up with and they're the people that would have supported me through the years playing football or whatever. I think it was the right place to do it and I've got a load of support from people that were there. And everybody's been great since I have been home.'
He explained his decision to go public about his gambling. 'Basically going public is for myself more than anything else. It's a matter of letting people know the full story. Once everybody knows the story, it should stop the rumours.'
McNamee also made some startling revelations about his gambling and how he started as a small gambler, betting 50 euros every Saturday, mainly on horses and dogs.
He outlined how his gambling spun out of control from early 2007 when he borrowed €3,000 to pay off a debt, ended up losing that and borrowing more than to pay that off as it 'snowballed in a matter of weeks'.
'I was just chasing it from then on really. And then my parents would have come on board. My father would have given me a few bob to bail me out and get me sorted. I would have gotten a loan off people but I always kept going back. I would stop for maybe five weeks, maybe three months but it always ended up that I'd gradually get back into it. A little thought would come into my head that this time would be different than the last time but it always got worse.'
He revealed how he often lost €1,000 in half an hour in the bookies and gambled online in 2007, building up €8,500 in his account at one stage but losing it within a week.
'I wanted to stop but I did nothing about it. I tried at times to stop on my own but I didn't change anything about the way I was behaving. I'd always end up going back gambling and when I went back, it was always worse than before. It never went back to when I was 18 or 19 and I was going with 50 euros on Saturday. It was always €200, €300, €400 bets.'
McNamee spoke about how football provided a respite from his problems. 'I just didn't think about the gambling when I was playing. Football was the only time I got a release - That and sleep. My football has obviously been affected over the years. It mightn't have been affected directly but my head just wasn't on it. That not to say it's going to get 100% better or anything like that in the future but there was always something going on for me in the background.'
Since coming out of treatment on December 28, he has begun to keep himself in shape for football, though he hasn't a time line for when he goes back playing.
Gerry Cooney hopes to have him available for the start of the National Football League but McNamee said:
'I'll just try and keep myself in some kind of shape for when I'm ready to go back playing. I don't know when that will be. It might be in six months, it might be three months, it could be one month but I just need to give this new way of living without gambling 100% effort.
'Part of the treatment is that I don't drink for a year. That's fine by me. I never took drugs and the alcohol isn't a massive problem. But gambling has beaten me. I know I can't handle it. I don't ever want to gamble again.
'I'm just taking it one day at a time. Every morning I'm getting down on my knees and praying, saying, ""Don't let me gamble and don't let me drink"" for today. And it's working for me so far.
'I know the addiction is always going to be there and I've always got to keep on top of it. At the moment I'm in no fit state to look after anyone only myself.
'I have to get myself sorted and if in a year or two, I can help someone else or if someone reading this can get a bit of inspiration from it, that's great. The main thing is that I'm putting it all out in the open so I can get a clear conscience and give it everything to get sorted.'
McNamee concluded:
'Everyone's been really supportive, especially my family who have been great to me. People know now that I've got a problem and I'm trying to do something about it, whereas before, I had a problem and I wasn't doing anything about it.
'I have debts of about €80,000 now but anyone I've contacted that I owe money to, they're not putting me under pressure. There are some people I still have to contact but my head is clear and I'll do all I can to make good with people.
'I just want to get on with my life and try and get things sorted.'.
McNamee first played senior football for Offaly as a sixteen year old against Laois in the 2003 Leinster championship and has been the jewel in the county's crown since then while he has won five Senior Football Championship medals with Rhode. A deadly scorer, he is one of the top forwards in the game and would make any county team in the country. He has also played international rules for Ireland and at 26 years of age, is in his footballing peak.

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