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The dark side of cricket

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It is impossible to say how many first-class cricketers across England and Wales are suffering from an addiction.

What we do know is that around a dozen have called a Professional Cricket Association helpline in the past two years to say they need help with their addictions.

And one can safely assume that they are probably not the only ones.

To its credit, the PCA has decided to invest a considerable amount of time and a fair amount of money into tackling the issue head-on.

Gone are the days when representative bodies would duck beneath the parapet on this one, probably embarrassed about such a problem.

And thank goodness for that.

Jason Ratcliffe, the PCA group director, sent me some interesting statistics about addictive behaviour from the National Centre for Social Research.

One of them showed, for instance, that around 284,000 people across the UK have some sort of gambling problem.

Internet gambling happens to be an area of particular concern for Ratcliffe and co, partly because of the anonymity provided by online casinos – and the massive growth of that sector.

But historically, alcohol and drugs have also led to some sad personal tales for cricketers.

It is not an area that has had so much attention, though one writer, David Frith, spent 30 years researching his excellent book Silence of the Heart: Cricket Suicides.

The 2001 edition tells the story of around 150 cricketers who had been rendered so miserable by cricket that they had taken their own lives.

Addictions may not automatically lead to suicides, but if the PCA is really successful with its campaign perhaps it may not happen again – at least in the world of cricket.

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comment by SwamyCricketAnanda (U5959555)

posted Oct 24, 2007

Why is this article titled "Dark Side of cricket"? English Cricket, maybe - addiction comes from affluence, lethargic lifestyle, lack of value systems in society, lack of family bonding etc. Addiction is not prevalent amongst other Test playing nations - certainly it is a very minor issue elsewhere.

I remember watching Waggy in Chennai - Feb 2004, if I recall... with the Academy team under Marsh. The next year, I read he'd been docked a few seasons for drug abuse by his county - Warwickshire I think. It's sad to note the prevalence of addiction among youth. A very bad trend.

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comment by concerned_cricketer (U5771993)

posted Oct 24, 2007

Swamy, there have been cases in India also. I have heard of Lakshman Sivaramakrishnan having had problems, which even played a part in cutting his career short, although I don't know the full details. And more recently Maninder Singh. But at least Maninder had finished his playing days. Very talented individuals can find it difficult to cope when their dreams don't go according to plan. They are a bit like sensitive artists, I guess.

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comment by medium-pacer (U3466950)

posted Oct 24, 2007

http://www.craegmoor.co.uk/news/industry/17967490/cricket_star_inadvertently_raises_mental_health_issue.aspx

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comment by SwamyCricketAnanda (U5959555)

posted Oct 25, 2007

Drug abuse must be the responsibility of civil society - ie: the government. To take it under the PCA is not theideal response to the alarming situation in the UK.

The PCA ought to fight for reducing meaningless ODIs and lesser cricket for england players. It has failed spectacularly in both areas; with the ECB bowing to commercial interests.

Some years back, Bevan and Carr from the PCA went to Zimbabwe ostensibly to review security arrangements! What was Scotland Yard or the British embassy in Zimbabwe doing then?

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