GAA hopes for all-Ireland success in tackling gambling

With gambling now ‘rife’ within the GAA, its alcohol and substance abuse prevention programme aims to help its players fight their addiction

FOR ARMAGH footballer Oisín McConville, 2002 would prove to be the best and worst year of his life.

In that year he inspired Armagh to their first and only All-Ireland success with a heart-stopping one-point win over Kerry.

It was also the year that his gambling problem got out of control. As he chronicles in his autobiography, The Gambler, he gambled the best part of £10,000 (€11,400) in a single day and did not have enough petrol to get himself home.

McConville quit on the day before his 30th birthday in 2005 and now works as an addiction counsellor in Toranfield House in Co Wicklow helping other addicts.

Last night, he was one of the guest speakers at the first of what the GAA hopes will be several events highlighting the pitfalls of modern living for those involved in sport.

Entitled A Sporting Chance: Tackling Life's Challenges with the GAA, the event at the Sligo Park Hotel was organised by Colin Regan, the GAA's new national co-ordinator of the alcohol and substance abuse prevention (ASAP) programme, and the Sligo GAA's games promotion officer, Charlie Harrison, who is also Sligo captain.

McConville is adamant that gambling is now “rife” within the GAA and among sports people in general.

“It’s a massive problem. I’ve heard from lots of fellows in the same position as me, not just county footballers but sports people in Ireland who have been in contact. They were in a similar position and have asked me what could they do about it.”

He also puts the rise in gambling down to the sheer proliferation of betting outlets which used to be only the bookie shop, but now includes websites, laptops and mobile phones.

The amount of things that you can bet on has also risen exponentially in recent years. It was once the preserve of horses, greyhounds and cards, now you can bet on anything from the colour of a tie to tomorrow’s weather forecast.

As he recounts in his book, he gambled on “anything that moved” and by the end he had “no pride left, no self-esteem”. He now believes all addictions are different, but many addicts have a compulsiveness inside of them that can take many forms.

“For me, it was gambling, for others it could be drink or drugs. I wanted to talk about how bad things got for me.

“I had gambling debts of more than £100,000 (€114,000), but it is not the money, it is what it does to your head. The depression is terrible.”

McConville says the drinking culture among inter-county players has waned in recent years because of the fierce commitment needed to succeed in the modern game. “You can’t really be drinking and playing county football, so what do you spend your time at? It is so out there now and such a part of life.”

Colin Regan, who has a MSc in sport and exercise management from UCD, is himself a former county footballer having played with Leitrim for 15 years before retiring with injury last year.

His role is to co-ordinate the association’s ASAP programme which, it is hoped, to be rolled out to every GAA club in the country by the end of 2012. It is a joint initiative with the HSE. Each county already has an ASAP officer.

Regan says he has spoken to Colin O’Driscoll (son of former Dublin footballer Gay O’Driscoll), an addiction counsellor recently who said the number of people admitted for gambling is on the rise.

“Gambling is one of the fastest growing addictions in the country. He says gambling is one of the addictions for which they are receiving their highest referrals,” Regan says.

“Gamblers normally only seek help when they have gambled three times their salary and that is why it is such an awful addiction. That being said, it is an eminently treatable addiction.”

Regan’s specific remit is alcohol and drug addictions. He takes over from Brendan Murphy from the HSE who ran the programme for several years.

In essence, the ASAP programme is to ensure that GAA members who have addiction problems can be identified and helped.

“It’s about educating, responding to any problems that might arise and it is about prevention,” he says.

This is frequently easier said than done and it is a brave person who confronts another about addiction. To that end, ASAP officers will be offered expertise in dealing with a thorny subject.

“The ASAP officer will be the first person on the ground who will see if somebody has an issue around drugs or alcohol,” says Regan.

“They can pick up the phone to me or give their county ASAP a call and we’ll decide what the best course of action is – whether a natural intervention is necessary or perhaps that individual needs to talk to somebody.”

A manual has been issued to each officer with a full list of service providers for each county. Two GAA members have developed a model called Saor which stands for support, offer assistance and referral. It is being presented at a conference in Toranfield House in Co Wicklow.

Last night’s meeting is the first of several that the GAA hopes to plan. GAA president Christy Cooney says the association owes a duty of care to its members off the pitch as well as on and that has been reflected in the ASAP programme.

He says the purpose of last night’s meeting was to get a message out to see how the GAA could support members who are in trouble. “We want to be positive and proactive, rather than reactive,” he says.

“We cannot solve everybody’s problems, but we can put a referral programme in place. We are an integral part of community life and we are there to support our broad-based membership as best we can. We do that without formalising it in a lot of ways already.”