Now that the issue is out in the public domain, first up best wishes to Niall in his fight against this horrible affliction and well done for confronting his demons in the way that he has. There is no shortcut through dealing with a problem like this and the signs are that he's committing to getting on top of this situation and rebuilding himself from there.
On this issue generally rather than specific to Niall, due to my line of work I've seen the effect that this particular addiction can have on people and it is truly scary. The crucial difference between this and a drink/drug dependency is that you can be doing huge damage and yet show no physical signs to anyone, even those closest to you. If I was to start drinking to excess, I have friends and family who would undoubtedly notice the change in my behaviour and have a chance to step in. Of course life is littered with examples of alcoholics who ignored the advice of loved ones and gone on to do great harm to themselves and those around them, but unless you end up killing someone on the roads while driving drunk, or committing some other offence which leaves you behind bars, it's difficult to do too much damage in the space of 3-6 months. You can only physically drink so much in a short space of time after all.
Gambling is completely different, there have been people who have gone from never placing a bet in their lives to losing everything they've ever owned and piling debt on top of that, all in a few weeks.
Equally, Irish people in general know what they're dealing with when it comes to drink or drugs, while gambling addiction is an unknown affliction for a lot of people. I don't say this just because I'm in the sports betting industry, but a lot of Irish adults can't see the distinction between somebody spending a few bob every Saturday on a harmless pastime, and someone causing real problems for themselves by overdoing it. Drinking 50 units of alcohol a week on a regular basis is harmful drinking in any man's language and we'd all know it, but there is no equivalent for betting, everyone's situation is very different. The key issue is usually why you're doing it, rather than what you're doing. Somebody who has never crossed a bookies threshold in their lives except to put a fiver on the Grand National often doesn't appreciate the difference, and thus can't relate to the individual who bets frequently and may have a huge problem, or may just be a social gambler who has it completely under control. It's no good looking at the amount of money somebody places on a bet and deciding that this is a huge or a perfectly okay amount - all too often the guys in bother aren't the ones placing €500 on a single bet, they're the ones dropping €100 a day in a series of €5 and €10 bets, before quietly going home to a cold house with no food because they have no other money.
It's a horrible affliction which the proliferation of online betting opportunities hasn't helped, but ultimately it is one that if it gets hold of you, will be very tough to overcome even if you never log on - opportunities for gambling are everywhere, if you want to find them. This is one of those areas where Irish society really hasn't formulated a coherent strategy or even developed a meaningful understanding of the issue, and one that will have to be looked at very carefully, all the more at the moment as more and more people feel trapped and helpless due to their economic situation and look for escapism in various forms.
In this instance, Niall is a very friendly, likeable young man and he has a lot of good friends and family members around him, so he has a good start in that regard - but he has a long, arduous journey ahead of him and I truly hope he gets on top of this.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
I would like to wish Niall and indeed his family the very best of luck in dealing with this addiction.
His father seems to have played a big role in this also and they are lucky enough that Gerry Cooney has been able to sort out some help for Niall in a top class facility.
Niall is a decent bloke who has faced up to his problems and he will have no shortage of help in the difficult times ahead both in Rhode and Offaly & hopefully the wider GAA community.
i want to wish niall all the best , lets face it if offaly have any hope at doing well this year and every year a fit and healthy niall mcnamee is the one man you want and need. every one has problems at some stage in their lives and its how you can overcome these problems that make you stronger and wiser and i have no doubt niall will be back in the green,white and gold in the very near future. one of the best natural scoring forwards ever to play the game and he is still only 26!
This is the full article taken from Monday's Irish Independent
OFFALY football star Niall McNamee stares the world in the eye and says: "This is me. This is my gambling addiction. Today I am in recovery."
It takes courage. Who among us wants to stand up and confess to a devastating weakness, to a life of secret shame, desperation and debt, all the while trying to pretend: 'I'm fine. No problem here.'
But McNamee (26), from Rhode, is standing tall.
He admits he has been addicted to gambling. He estimates it has cost him €200,000 over the years and he owes around €80,000 __ and that's only the financial cost.
The collateral damage to family, friends, relationships, workmates, employers, fellow footballers and teams is less visible, but he's beginning to come to terms with the harm the addiction wreaked on everyone around him and most of all __ himself.
In this he is not alone. Any addiction __ be it to gambling, alcohol, drugs, s*x, food __ is like an evil spirit that wraps its coils around the personality, inducing irresistible cravings for the substance or activity, isolating the person, bringing them spiralling down, destroying all that's good about them and around them.
Many don't make it. They can't get to that point where the pain is so great that they just have to surrender and seek help. Some take the ultimate way out __ suicide.
For McNamee, the final vestiges of facade crumbled on Monday, November 14, 2011. It wasn't the first time his father, John, had tackled Niall about his gambling.
Indeed, there had been many occasions when the son had to seek loans from his parents to bail him out when the bets were placed on duds. There had been concern expressed many times, followed by promises to change, to give it up.
But there was something different about this occasion. And even though Niall admits that for 20 minutes of that conversation he still tried to bluster and protest that nothing was wrong, eventually, he cracked.
BIGGEST
It proved to be probably the biggest turning point of his life.
"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," McNamee said.
"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 there was something wrong.
"He basically said he'd rung around people, he'd made a few enquiries, and he just knew there was something really wrong.
"I was denying it for 20 minutes or so. I was saying: 'Look, I have everything sorted' and then I just went, 'f*** this' and broke down and came clean.
"It was the best thing I've ever done. It was a weight off my shoulders," said McNamee.
The next day he met recently-appointed Offaly manager Gerry Cooney. Cooney came to his native county to manage, but he also works as a senior counsellor in The Rutland Centre in Dublin.
The two men had met prior to that. The player had criticised the process by which the county manager's job was being filled and there were also rumours he was poised to join a club in Co Kildare.
Cooney had wanted to know what was behind that statement by the player, and also what were his intentions for 2012 regarding football.
They had arranged to meet on Tuesday, November 15 for further discussions on the subject, but by that night, football was the last thing on McNamee's mind.
The team manager had been contacted by Niall's father on the Monday night after the crucial father-son discussion and on the Tuesday morning Cooney and Niall spoke by phone.
They met at Johnstown House in Enfield that night. Cooney outlined the options for McNamee and asked him what he wanted to do.
"There was no question in my mind what I needed to do. I had to go in for treatment," was McNamee's verdict.
The next day, the Rhode man, a manager in a meat factory, told his employer about his situation and what he needed to do about it. He got a supportive reaction.
On Wednesday, November 23, McNamee entered the Rutland Clinic for five weeks' treatment.
Two days later, on November 25, he had a letter read out to the Rhode GAA club AGM which was attended by over 120 people, informing them of his addiction and his decision to seek treatment.
"I wanted to do it because they're the people I would have grown up with and they're the people that would have supported me down 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 have been home.
"I know one particular woman whose mother died recently and my father was in a shop, the day after I came home and the woman asked how was I doing.
"My father said: 'He's out there in the car'.
"She ran out to her car and got a card out of it and gave it to me. And this was only a few days after her mother had died, so that's the kind of good people that are around the place."
Inevitably, after that AGM letter was read out, the word spread across Offaly and into other counties, and that's why McNamee is speaking publicly today.
He is making this one statement to outline the facts rather than allow the rumours to spread and grow legs in the telling and re-telling.
It's entirely his own decision to do this.
He's not setting himself up as a paragon of virtue, a crusader for recovery, or anybody's saviour. Nor is he looking for sympathy.
Once this article is published __ indeed, since he came out of the Rutland Centre on December 28 __ McNamee's focus is on doing what he has to do to make a new life without gambling.
"Basically going public is for myself more than anything else. It's a matter of letting people know the full story.
"Once everyone knows the story, it should stop the rumours," he said.
THE BEGINNING
Aged 18, McNamee started going to the local bookmakers. He settled into a habit of betting €50 every Saturday, and this went on for a year or two while he was a student at UCD and doing part-time work.
"If I lost the €50 it didn't bother me, because I had it to lose."
He wasn't too bad at it either, and there were times he'd win. Horse racing and the dogs were his specialties. Football and golf took too long for a result.
THIS IS ADDICTION __ 1
"2006 was fine. I was gambling, but I kind of had it under control. But from early 2007, it really just got on top of me," McNamee said. "I owed about €3,000. I borrowed €3,000 to pay it off and I ended up losing the €3,000 and borrowed more money to pay that off and lost that, and it just snowballed in a matter of weeks.
"And I was just chasing it from there on in 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."
THIS IS ADDICTION __ 2
"I never studied form or planned going into a bookies what I was going to bet on, especially in the last couple of years. I would always just go in and that was it, I'd be over to place a bet.
"As quick as that race was over, I'd be on to the next thing straight away. I might only be there for half an hour, but I could lose a massive amount of money. I could lose €1,000 in half an hour."
THIS IS ADDICTION __ 3
"Unless you're involved in it, people don't understand what it's about. If my parents were giving me money, or if they were saying 'pay off this' and saying 'right, you have to stop' they just thought I could stop. But I couldn't stop. I'd say to them I'd stop, and 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 like when I was, say, 18 or 19 and I was going up with €50 on Saturday. It was always €200 bets, €300 bets, €400 bets."
THIS IS ADDICTION __ 4
"I was gambling online in 2007 for about three months and I actually made a lot of money. I had my account up to the guts of €8,500 at one stage, but I lost it within a week, all on horses. I closed the account soon after. I haven't bet online since that."
THIS IS ADDICTION __ 5
"I had to meet one of my friends in Newbridge, but he was delayed. I had €400 and I went into a bookies while I was waiting and lost it all.
"I went across the road and took out €700 which was the maximum I could take out of the bank machine. I lost all that too. By the time he met me I had no money to bring him for coffee, so I lied that I had to bring my mother shopping and I had to go home."
SECRECY OF GAMBLING
"If you're an alcoholic, everybody can see it because you're falling around the place drunk. If you're a drug addict, an overdose might stop you in your tracks.
"If you're a gambler there are so many easy ways of hiding. Like, I could lose €1,000 and walk out in the street and chat away as if nothing was wrong.
"Locally, people would have known that I was betting a bit more. It got to a stage where I wouldn't gamble locally in the last two or three years.
"I'd go off somewhere else. I'd be in Tullamore, Newbridge, or Mullingar. I'd go to different places just so people wouldn't know where I was, or what I was doing. If people asked me was I gambling, I'd say: 'No, I'm finished'.
"I'd try to make people think that I'd stopped whereas I was gambling more than ever."
FOOTBALL __ THE RELIEF
"The only time I ever left the bookies was when I'd no money left, the bookies was closed or I had training or a match. Football was the only release I ever got from the gambling.
"We (Rhode) played a championship semi-final in 2007 at a time when I could really feel things were getting on top of me. I owed about €25,000 at the time to different people. I didn't know how I was going to pay it.
"I had lost my week's wages in the bookies. I had no money to my name that weekend.
"I remember the day before the match, my head was spinning with thoughts of all the money I owed, and what was I going to do about it.
"I went out and played the first half and completely forgot about my problems. At half-time, the head started going again onto the problems.
"I played the second half and same again, total release when I was playing the game. I scored 3-3 of our 3-5. We lost, but I played really well. People were praising me, but they had no idea of what was going on in my head.
"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's not to say it's going to get 100pc better or anything like that in the future, but there was always something going on for me in the background," said McNamee.
His best year in an Offaly jersey was 2006, three years after he made his debut. Ironically, Gerry Cooney was a selector under Kevin Kilmurray's management.
Rhode won the Offaly championship and Offaly were the surprise package of Leinster, reaching the provincial final before falling to Dublin. McNamee also received a nomination for an All Star.
2012 __ A NEW BEGINNING
"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've loads of numbers and people that I can ring and the meetings are great. I'm going to put all my effort into this recovery, and if that means five, six, seven meetings a week __ that's fine.
"I've been to the gym a few times already and I've enjoyed that, so I'll just 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 100pc effort.
"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, then 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 myself sorted.
"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," said McNamee
The very best of luck to him. He's a sound lad, and he put himself in an awful position. I'm sure his family, his friends and the GAA family will rally around him and try to help where they can.
Shane Gavin. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Best of luck to Niall with his fight against this horrible addiction,it takes a good man to go public with his problems and I hope to see him back playing with club and county in the near future!
