Ex-England Under-21 and Watford footballer Marvin Sordell has warned that young football players are getting hooked on gambling and clubs must invest more efforts into protecting them. Sordell, who retired from professional football at the age of 28, now claims that the next generation of football players is being let down by their clubs.
The former striker, who has 321 appearances and scored 68 goals in his career, believes that gambling has become one of the major problems that currently affect player well-being. At the time he was officially announced as an ambassador for the Young Gamers & Gamblers Education Trust (YGAM), a national charity, he explained that football players have a lot of free time but they are only permitted to spend it in certain ways. According to Sordell, gaming is one of the indoor activities footballers can do at home.
As he explained, gambling is a major part of the football culture like a lot of other things. The former striker shared that some of his teammates used to constantly check scores and bets when they were not training. In his opinion, it is gambling that has probably changed the younger generations of football players, with a lot of them being interested in gambling.
Football Clubs Do Not Do Much to Protect Their Players from Gambling-Related Harm
Furthermore, Sordell claims that a lot of young players who spend their free time playing games such as FIFA and are actually hooked on additional items such as loot boxes and Ultimate Team. The former footballer explained that at the time he was a young player, he started playing just to open loot boxes available in games because of that feeling of excitement it brought to him.
Sordell confessed that many players actually do the same thing because they are willing to replicate the flow of excitement, but they also spend a lot of money on activities that are essentially gambling. According to him, this trend needs to be addressed by the regulators and competent authorities.
Currently, the former striker is an ambassador of the Young Gamers & Gamblers Education Trust, an organisation that provides young people with free educational programmes aimed at ensuring protection against gambling-related harm.
He further noted that the younger generations of players in the football industry do not receive enough help and attention from the competent regulators to make sure their physical and mental health is well protected from possible gambling-related harm. He explained that, for years now, not enough importance is placed on the footballers’ mental health and overall well-being.
Up to date, the gambling addiction-prevention charity organisation YGAM works in collaboration with football club community trusts as part of its efforts to deliver educational sessions in local schools and to inform young people about the risks associated with gaming and gambling, especially when they become a habit.
- Author
Daniel Williams
