Aaron Connolly has made the brave decision to speak publicly about his struggles with alcohol in the hope of inspiring others to do the same.
Despite a hugely promising start to his career in Brighton, Connolly's career has stalled in recent years with the Galway native bouncing from loan spell to loan spell before being left clubless this year. Fortunately however, Sunderland AFC offered Connolly a lifeline, signing him just three weeks ago.
Now on World Mental Health Day, Connolly has made the brave decision to speak about how a troubled relationship with alcohol has affected his football career and his life.
Aaron Connolly opens up on alcohol addiction
While Connolly's career there is still very much in its early stages, his courageous interview with the club's media certainly bodes well for his future.
Speaking about his journey to Sunderland, Connolly opened up about his alcohol addiction in a candid interview with Sunderland AFC.
I don’t know how to put this, bluntly, it was obvious I had a problem with alcohol for a good few years.
I had my parents who never drank before, always telling me when I was younger and when I would go out, they’d always advised me to stay away from alcohol, it was always their thing, because of addiction to alcohol in my family.
I didn’t listen clearly and it got me in a lot of trouble... It felt like my buzz used to come from football, winning games and scoring goals and it got to a point where the buzz was more from drinking alcohol than going out on a football pitch.
I used to look forward to the games finishing, so I could have time to go and have a drink, go and socialise... It was an excuse to go and get drunk. That was where I got my buzz from.
While the alcohol may have been affecting Connolly's on field performances, it was also playing havoc with his home and social life with the Galway native revealing that a moment in July saw him hit his limit and seek treatment for the issue.
I decided, I think it was the end of July, that it was too much. I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t live the way I was living because it was killing people around me to be honest with you my family, my friends, and mainly it was killing me really.
It just got to a point where I had to make a decision that I needed to go to a treatment clinic. I spent a month there in the summer and I just said to my agent, ‘I don’t want you contacting any clubs, I’m not doing this for football, I’m not doing this for anything else, I’m doing this so I can get my life back’.
I just feel like this will help people if I’m being honest. I had everything that any young boy would dream of and I couldn’t get hold of my addiction. It was the toughest thing I ever had to do, to go in there.
While this is only a small extract of what is an outstanding honest and courageous interview from Connolly, the Sunderland striker explained how he hoped that his own honesty might help others to follow in his footsteps.
This isn’t just to help just footballers, I know there’s people out there that could be in the Sunderland area, the Brighton area, the Hull area.
There’s no price tag or there’s no amount of money in the world that can cure it, it’s a disease, it’s an illness and I never thought of it like that until I decided that I needed to go to the clinic. It was the best and worst month of my life.
While the road ahead will undoubtedly remain difficult for Aaron Connolly his courage and determination to overcome his challenges and create a thriving career in Sunderland are very worthy of applause and certainly bode well for his future.
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