The forward of the Scottish Premiership club Hearts Kyle Lafferty has praised his squad for the support which he has received since revealing his gambling addiction to the wider public. It was in September 2017 when the Northern Ireland football player make a confession about his problem gambling behaviour, which costed him thousands of pounds.
Now, the 30-year-old striker revealed that he has not placed a bet over the seventh months following him turning to his club for help to battle his addiction. He also credited the Austin MacPhee, who is the Hearts’ assistant, for helping him every step of the way and supporting him during his recovery.
In an interview for Sky Sports, Lafferty revealed that the longest period for him staying away from gambling before was about a month and a half, but he also said that he had not felt that he wanted to actually stop. He shared that the fact he had not gambled since last September was a massive achievement for him and gave credits to his wife, MacPhee and his entire club for backing him.
Lafferty said that he could have probably open up for his gambling addiction years ago, but he also explained that it was not easy for him to do that, as he did not even want to admit that he had a problem. He praised Austin MacPhee for being so supportive and called him a “father figure”, revealing that the assistant was still there for him, checking if everything was going well.
Problem Gambling among Professional Athletes on the Rise
Lafferty is not the only football player who has been associated with problem gambling behaviour. Recently, the concerns that professional athletes, and especially football players, were dealing with gambling addictions raised concerns among football associations’ members.
It seems that these rumours have not been groundless after all, or at least when it comes to the UK. Earlier in 2018, the former midfielder of Manchester City, Newcastle and QPR Joey Barton made claims, saying about half of the professional football players have violated the gambling laws of the Football Association (FA) as they had placed bets on football matches. Barton himself confessed that he had a gambling problem and as a result got suspended from football.
Barton, 35, revealed that he had bet on over 1,250 football matches in about a decade and claimed that gambling among football players was a common pastime.
Then, the ex midfielder Kieron Dyer revealed that some of the top football players in the National football team of England were facing gambling addiction. In his autobiography, Dyer made some striking claims, saying that gambling has always been a very serious problem among English players. According to his claims, things just got out of control over Euro 2004 in Portugal, with problem gambling behaviour allegedly influencing the players’ performance.
- Author
Daniel Williams
