boredom started it all. Andros Townsend was in a hotel room, it was the evening before a game. The footballer spent the time with watching TV and saw an advertisement for a betting company. So he downloaded the App, placed his first bet and got into a fast moving downward spiral.
“Within a few months I lost control. I always lost more money in betting, and was totally addicted,” he writes in an article for the online portal “The Players’ Tribune.” With a single bet, a single click of a hotel room, he had lost 60’000 Swiss francs. That was in 2012, when he was on loan from Tottenham to Birmingham City and in the evening before the most important Match of the season, the Playoff semi-final against Blackpool. The 60’000 Swiss francs, he sat down on the outcome of a single game. “I’m probably the only Person in the world, which was on a Wednesday night in Blackpool in a hotel room and so much money has been lost.”
Thank you @TPT_Global for letting me tell you my side of the story. https://t.co/5CPwql2Sbm pic.twitter.com/2zylJsMOmD
— Andros Townsend (@andros_townsend) December 5, 2019
Nine different Clubs in four years
Townsend now plays for Premier League Club Crystal Palace. In the case of the Spurs, he was trained, but had to wait as a young player on appearances in the first team. He was loaned back to Clubs in the lower leagues, a total of nine times within four years. The lonely life in Hotels, long bus rides, team-mates, he did not know it correctly, “has since started the Trouble, really,” he writes.
The 28-Year-old couldn’t contain his addiction to gambling, any Motivation in life was missing, not even football, he Lust had to play. “It didn’t stop until I was caught.” Therefore, the Englishman writes: “For the good luck I was caught.” In 2013, he was fined for breaches of the betting rules from the national football Association, and for four months, locked.
brilliant: Andros Townsend, the Premier League goal of the season 2018/19 achieved.
The footballer was seeking professional help. It seeks not only went to the game. As Townsend, a 10-year-old Boy, died of his older half-brother in a car accident. “On this day I lost my hero. The pain has been with me all my life.” Today, he’s all right, thanks to the talks with a sports psychologist to get him, his mother had: “This has not only saved my football career, but probably also me as a human being. As a result, I’ve learned to be able to with someone about my problems.”
third mid – term of the Tamedia football-Podcast
The show is listening to on Spotify, with Apple’s Podcasts or directly here: Here you will find all the episodes in one place.
(va)
Created: 06.12.2019, 11:08 PM
