Sunderland and Republic of Ireland striker Aaron Connolly has opened up on an addiction to alcohol that has blighted his professional career.
To mark World Mental Health Day, Connolly has spoken about the problems that he has faced for the last few years.
The 24-year-old said he spent a month in rehab this summer after leaving Hull City.
“I had everything a young boy could dream of but I couldn’t get hold of my addiction,” he told the Sunderland website.
Connolly joined the Black Cats, who are top of the Championship, last month as a free agent.
‘I started to believe hype’
Connolly was a highly talented teenager who came over from Ireland when he was 15 to move to Brighton and Hove Albion.
A prolific scorer for Brighton’s under-23 team, it was not long before he was making his first Premier League start, aged just 19 in October 2019.
He scored two that day as the Seagulls beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-0, but rather than being the first step on the way to a successful career at the top level, he believes that it was exactly the opposite.
“That’s probably where my career started to go downhill when it really should have been carrying on upwards,” Connolly said.
“I just stopped doing the things that got me to that position. I just stopped working hard and you can’t do that. I started to believe the hype. I became a tough person to be around. Nobody could tell me anything.”
He only managed three more goals in the top flight as his promising youth career did not translate into sustained success at the top level.
There were loan spells with Middlesbrough in the Championship and then with Venezia in Italy’s Serie B, but that was cut short to allow Connolly to move to Hull, initially on loan before signing a one-year deal.
“The loans were a sign of what I was doing because I should have been playing week-in, week-out for Brighton,” he said. “From where I was to where I ended up, something clearly went wrong.”
‘Alcohol became my buzz’
Connolly, who has won nine Republic of Ireland caps, said he had always been warned of the dangers of drinking by his parents because of a family history of problems.
In his words, he “didn’t listen” to their concerns. Instead he became more interested in the trappings of fame that go with being a well-paid professional athlete.
But rather than thriving as a Premier League footballer, his lifestyle was holding him back.
“It was obvious I had a problem with alcohol for a good few years,” he said. “It just became something I relied on.
“My buzz used to come from football and scoring goals, but the buzz became more from going out drinking alcohol than going out on the football pitch.
“I used to look forward to the games finishing so I could go and socialise. That was an excuse to go and get drunk.”
Connolly’s moment of truth came this summer. Released by Hull, the striker recognised that despite having a relatively successful season on the pitch, his life off it had spiralled out of control.
Unable to pick up the phone when his heartbroken parents were trying to ring, Connolly had reached his lowest ebb so took himself into rehabilitation for a month for help with his addiction.
“It was too much. I couldn’t live the way I was living because it was killing people around me – my family, my friends – and mainly it was killing me really,” he said.
“My life was so unmanageable. I couldn’t control my alcohol. It got to a point where I had to make a decision that I needed to go to a treatment clinic.
“I told my agent not to contact any clubs. I wasn’t doing this for football. I was doing this so I could get my life back.
“It wasn’t even the football that was taking the biggest battering, but my relationships, my family, my friends. Everything was failing and falling apart.
“I couldn’t get hold of my addiction.
“It was the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do to go in there. It was the best and worst month of my life. I learned so much in there.”
‘I couldn’t be happier’
Connolly says the decision to speak about his alcohol problem is an attempt to help others face up to their own problems, regardless of their background or walk of life.
Now the striker is attempting to rebuild his career at Sunderland where he has been for the last few months and he was an unused substitute in the draw with Leeds United last week.
But he says that his boyish enthusiasm for the game he grew up loving is beginning to return.
Most importantly, he believes that he is making his family and friends proud again.
“After the last few months, it’s great to just be back playing football,” he said.
“To be around a good group of people, good gaffer, good coaching staff, good people and to have a football at my feet, I couldn’t be any happier.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article you can visit the BBC’s Action Line for information and support on addiction.
