Hodd

Nowadays, an English Premier League player wouldn't touch alcohol. It'd affect their training and soon be noticed. Getting drunk in public would also end up all over social media, and there'd be fines and loss of sponsorships. It's not worth the risk. But that wasn't the case ten or twenty years ago, and I just saw a former footballer Paul Merson talking about his addiction.

He was known as an alcoholic and sought help and is thankfully now sober, but what struck me was the amount he drunk. He said 35 beers a week. That's what I used to drink!

I honestly thought he drank more than that. Don't get me wrong, that's a massive and deadly amount, but a lot of people I see around will drink that much or more.

It's because he was in the public spotlight. His addiction was compounded. He's really struggled to overcome his addiction, though, and I can well empathise.

Meanwhile, a former team mate of his, Neil Ruddock, is only a year older than me, but is well over 300lbs due to a sedentary lifestyle and excessive alcohol. He'll be gone within a few years unless he stops drinking.

But back to Paul Merson, a lot of people drink that amount every week and think they're fine. I've been there, and it's very hard to get away.

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Boondock

I watched a documentary about a UK soccer player who was an addict and got sober his name was Tony Adams. It was a good show about addiction to watch.

Thrillhou

In the 1980's there was a wrestler called "Andre the Giant" and he drank more than any human being I've ever known. People said he'd drink 100 or more beers in one sitting. There are numerous Youtube videos about it. I'm not even sure Ozzy Osbourne has drank that much in a session.

Steely

George Best had a very sad end.

Wish australian football players showed a bit more decorum. Many are barbarians.

Sober45

How much a person can drink comes with bragging rights these days. Ahh “ I can drink you under the table sure!”. I’ve said it myself.

It’s sad. What has become the norm isn’t normal. And COVID just ramped everything up to a new “ norm”.

So grateful to be a part of this sober undercurrent .

Thank you, Hodd

RecklessDrunk

I grew up in the 80s we use to love that stuff. Andre had some kind of rare condition that made him grow insanely large. He was over 7 feet tall and over 500lbs. They say when he went to hotels he had to poop in the bath tub and wash it out because he couldn't fit on the toilet. I remember a story where 3 guys gave him a hard time at a bar. Throwing things at him and stuff. Andre lost his temper and chased them out of the bar and they got in some little car to drive off. Andre flipped their car over! The men tried to explain to the police how the car ended up like that, the cops had trouble believing that a big, giant man had come and turned it over.

I thought Jake the Snake was in recovery. There was a documentary on him not all that long ago. Hope he is doing well. Many of those guys with the steroids and the lifestyle do not live all that long. Many of those guys from the 80s are gone now. Superfly, Rick Rude, Macho man, Ultimate Warrior, Rowdy Roddy, even Miss Elizabeth od'd many years ago.

From the old days in the NFL I've heard of John Riggins and the Hoggs drinking beer in a shed after practice. Kenny Stabler they say would look at the game plan by the light of the jukebox the night before the game. Favre drank like 20 beers the night before his first start at southern miss. I don't think he knew he was starting, or maybe I'm wrong and he came in relief instead. Either way he was extremely hungover the first college action he saw. I think he is in recovery now. Joe Namath, another one known for partying, I thought he now has quite a few years of sobriety. Pat Summerall i think his drinking actually got him separated from his broadcast partner and landed with Madden. Summerall, from I understand was sober for much of the later years his life. Michael Irvin gave him credit for helping him get sober.

I guess like anything else sports is going to have its share of using and recovery. Maybe more dangerous as they have more money, more resources to party, more rope to hang themselves with. All those fancy rehabs they can pay for I don't see as much of an advantage. You can't buy recovery.

stickyone

Yes I'm so glad I'm not drinking anymore. With restrictions lifting there has been so many alcohol related crimes and deaths from my home town. Everytime I see a ambulance or firetruck I silently pray for that person to be okay.

Hodd

He crossed the line as far as I'm concerned. He'd had a liver transplant. Not only did someone die to give him that new liver, but it also meant another patient had to wait, and maybe they died as a result too.

I don't think I'd stay sane knowing I had someone else's live inside me after I'd destroyed mine through drinking. What a burden. But to then abuse that ultimate gift by drinking is bordering on evil.

Hodd

Yes, he was/is very famous and was captain of the England team.

What shocked me is I always thought Tony Adams and Paul Merson drank numerous bottles of vodka a day, but they were actually drinking the equivalent of what I was drinking, i.e. 5 beers a day or a bottle of wine.

Maybe these two guys do work for charity, but it would be great if they spoke up more about their addiction, maybe how it crept up on them (as it did with all of us) and how they can't drink again. It would resonate with guys in their 40s, 50s or 60s who would've seen these guys playing football and see how unhealthy they look now (I'm the same age as Paul Merson and even I look healthier).

Scd619x

35 beers???? Even if you count them as pints of fosters that's about 80 units a week!? You are right that is not much at all. Definitely not what a medical person would have described as an alcoholic, you mention alcoholic to a GP and they will stick down a litre of vodka a day on your notes regardless of how much you tell them you are drinking. Not exactly our George are they?! Good for them for stopping though as it was clearly a problem for them, and the gambling didn't help either I'm sure.

Scd619x

Now medically he would have been considered a real alcoholic, he absolutely lost any power over alcohol at all.

Boondock

Tony Adams was pretty bad at the end of his drinking in the documentary I saw. There were two key events that led him to drop the booze. The 1st one he totaled his car into a brick wall while drunk driving and the 2nd was he showed up at a very important game and they showed video where he was obviously hammered and they lost the match because of it, being as he was such a key player. The next day the news papers tore him to pieces showing front page pictures of his head with donkey ears on it.

DRMax

Yeah good documentary that. I've also read both his books. He actually drank a for another 5+ years after those episodes, quitting after the Euro 1996 tournament. He'd been sober for several months leading up to the tournament and then went on a major bender afterwards. Adams if i recall was a binge drinker, so although the units per week maybe doesn't sound so major he would drink very heavily given the chance. Failed marriage, prison sentence due to his drinking and generally ending up in a bad way whenever he drank.

Merson was into cocaine and had gambling problems too
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FlyAgain

Goes to show that addiction can get anyone. There’s also kenny sansom, who played for England, who pops up in the newspapers occasionally pictured sleeping on a park bench, and Gazza - what a shame

StartAnew68

I'm guessing you watched the documentary last night about Harry Redknapp taking the players to Germany. I watched the 'full' series' last year which was over 5 (I think) nights. Paul Merson opened up even more then than what was shown last night. I thought that was very brave of him.

It was very interesting to see PM talking to the camera in his room while the rest were beering it up with Razor (Neil) Ruddock despite knowing his health issues. I thought that was quite thought-provoking.

AlbaSober

Paul Gascoigne is another.

The press constantly berate him for going back to drinking after many 3 or 4 month spells off it. Personally I respect him for the strength he's shown to have these periods of sobriety. But if he starts drinking he's really off the rails.

Hodd

That wasn't lost on me either. I'd go to the pub with friends if they were going to have one or two. I'd have a coffee or an alco free beer, but I wouldn't sit there whilst they got more and more drunk. Paul Merson was spot on to stay in his hotel..

In any case, that looked like a nice French town to look around. It's typical drinking brit behaviour to sit in a bar.

Unless Neil Ruddock's changed his was since that programme, he won't get to 60 sadly.

Hodd

The most healthiest of them all is Harry Redknapp, well into his 70s. He's definitely not a big drinker.

Auchieshuggle

I always think of the advert featuring Terry Venebles when he managed the Australian national team. He was coaching them in the middle of a desert wasteland with barely a blade of glass on the pitch and football goals that were clearly formerly Aussie Rules goals, with the vertical posts having been carelessly sworn off above the crossbar. The players keep picking up the ball, and he keeps shouting "no, no, no..." and getting frustrated.

I actually looked for the advert a few years back on YouTube but couldn't find it. I imagine it was for XXXX, though.


Edit: I have found it! As it's not for a beer company, I will post it below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhIw4ORLT0o

Cityboy

Of the people I know, or have known, who were in college and professional level sports, it's a mixed bag. Most of the ones I know personally are relatively clean now, but haven't always been.

Lawrence Taylor did that documentary of his career in which he said that he was spending $1,000 a day on drugs and prostitutes, and that was in the 80s.