AS football fans, we’ve probably all done it. You see a player who is undoubtedly gifted, but whose career has gone off track. The conclusion? He’s a waster. A ne’er do well. A squanderer of his talent, throwing his career away. Probably likes a drink, too.
Had you asked me at the start of last week for my thoughts on Dele Alli, my response wouldn’t have been a million miles away from that. But after watching his incredibly candid and moving interview with Gary Neville on Sky’s ‘The Overlap’, I wouldn’t have been the only one with cause to reassess my misguided opinion of the former England midfielder. And indeed, acknowledge some shame in my past assessments of him.
The revelations that he had been sexually abused at just six years of age, before moving on to selling drugs at eight, being hung off a bridge by an adult at 11 before eventually being adopted and indeed rescued by what is now his family were heart-wrenching. His subsequent addiction to sleeping pills as he attempted in vain to block out the painful memories of his childhood perfectly understandable. His drop-off in form since his peak for Tottenham and England five or six years back now at once as trivial as it was readily explainable.
Not every player will have gone through the torment that Alli did at such a young age, but within his interview there was also plenty to be worried about in a more general sense when it comes to the health and wellbeing of footballers.
According to Alli, the misuse of and addiction to sleeping pills is rife throughout the game. Anecdotally, I have indeed heard as much about numerous players currently plying their trade in Scotland, suggesting the problem may be just as apparent north of the border as it is in England.
As gilded an existence that it is widely believed footballers enjoy – and they do enjoy, for the most part – there is also a price to pay when it comes to the physical and mental demands that are placed upon you.
They are human beings the same as you and me when it boils down to it, but unlike the average man in the street, when they have a bad day they also have to contend with thousands of people screaming at them or, in this digital age, sending abuse directly to their phones.
As Alli explained, what is often used safely enough by the majority of players to balance out the adrenaline coursing through their bodies after a late kick-off, for example, can easily then become a crutch for those who have underlying or repressed issues. A readily available instant solution to black out whatever may be haunting them.
Most players who use sleeping pills regularly are none the worse for it, on the surface at least, and it doesn’t affect their level of performance. In other cases though, as with Dele Alli, their misuse can have a devastating impact on their careers. And, more importantly, in their lives.
Thankfully, Alli has now come through the other side of a six-week rehab programme and appears to be in the best place both mentally and physically that he has for a long time. There will be many, like me, who would have once scorned him for being a wastrel but who are now willing him to reignite his playing career and get back somewhere close to the form that once marked him out as one of the world’s top young talents.
More importantly, it’s just great to see him get his life back on track, and finding a way to deal with the horrors he has suffered without resorting to the methods that caused it to veer so wildly in the first place.
It is concerning to think that there may be players in Scotland currently going through a similar experience that Alli suffered through for so long, and it is incumbent upon the game’s governing bodies to ensure they are doing all they can to offer help and support for those who may need it.
PFA Scotland have made good strides recently in this regard, appointing a wellbeing development officer in former professional player David McCracken. Charities such as Back Onside have also long been a valuable support for players dealing with all kinds of addictions or mental health problems.
In the meantime, perhaps we can all learn a thing or two from Alli’s interview. Too often, players are readily given labels or dismissed, their characters questioned and picked apart, when the truth is we often have no idea whatsoever what issues they may be contending with in their private lives.
Many parts of the media too, it has to be said, should also be reflecting on the power they have to shape perceptions of players, as was undoubtedly the case when it comes to how Alli was widely viewed until last week.
We can all learn from Alli’s story, and his bravery, just as we have all learned that Dele Alli is not who you might have thought he was.
