The Ugly Side Of The Beautiful Game: Mental Health In Football

The academy system in English football has long been fruitful in producing some of the best talent on the pitch, namely Trent Alexander-Arnold and Bukayo Saka. But it's still an industry that can lead to devastating consequences. Only a small percentage actually make it and are handed professional contracts—leaving others, who've dedicated their lives to the game - in limbo.

In an interview published by L’Équipe, former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry – now a pundit – spoke at length about mental health in football.

He said that back in his time it was "taboo" to speak publicly about well-being and feel like you'll actually be taken seriously. But the truth is this issue goes deeper than the professional leagues.

The academy system in English football has long been fruitful in producing some of the best talent on the pitch, namely Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka.

But it's still an industry that can lead to devastating consequences. Only a small percentage on average – just 30% (out of 4,109 players in statistics released by the Premier League to the I Newspaper), actually make it and are handed professional contracts—leaving some in limbo.

In 2020 a young academy footballer took his own life after struggling with severe depression, just two years after being released by Manchester City’s Academy.

Since his death, Manchester City has spent time into providing mental health screenings from top psychologists to help all the youngsters within their academy.

Other clubs such as Crystal Palace followed suit. Palace became the first club to introduce an aftercare programme for academy players (aged 18-23) that get released from the club. This programme covers players for 3 years, giving them the support and education they may need to make the next step whether that be in or out of football.

But as a former grass-root footballer —I believe the insatiable hunger and desire amongst some clubs to generate another 'Phil Foden' - as well as a whole new golden generation of young talent, is clouding them when it comes having a duty of care to protect the youth from the pressures football can bring.

Jeremy Wisten, the young footballer who died back in 2020, was with Manchester City since he was 13. His story has lifted a dark veil on English football, highlighting the struggles that many young footballers have been suffering in silence.

The pandemic is thought to have also increased struggles that players are going through.

Coach Nabil Jordan Nassar believes there's a lot of responsibility when you're a coach

According to a report by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) in 2020, out of some 262 members, 69% were worried about their career and a further 9% were experiencing damaging addictive habits.

The importance of a coach is often undervalued when it comes to the mental health of sports players. That’s a view seemingly shared by Nabil Jordan Nassar, who has been coaching at grassroots level for over 5 years.

“I can’t describe how fulfilling it is because even-though I’m essentially teaching kids how to play football, I also feel like I’m a life-coach”, said coach Nassar.

Youth coaches seem to be second parents to children involved in football at a young age. They need to be pushed in a certain direction – a direction that they can move in outside of football as well as in it.

“It’s a deeper feeling of satisfaction when what you’ve been coaching finally clicks in for the players and they apply certain principles to other aspects of their lives," he said.

But Coach Nassar also believes that it's important to prepare the players for the reality that some of them might not make it as quickly as they hope to and therefore they should also value education.

Young players however don’t always have coaches like him to guide them, one former player who we’ll call TJ (as he wanted to remain anonymous) now aged 23—struggled without the right support system around him to guide his future.

“I was extremely disappointed when I got released at 18, I felt even worse when I dropped down to grassroots level”, he added. “When having your dream shattered as a teenager by not making the grade at academy level it’s hard, I felt like I’d let my family down.

“It was tough because most of my friends were starting to move forward with their careers in and away from football, it was difficult to be around them with their successes when I felt like a failure.”

TJ believes that for young people like him, who grow up in inner cities, it's very easy to lose focus– especially if there isn’t the right guidance around. “There was no support and I didn’t know what to do next.” This is what many have realised when their careers stop before they’ve even started.

In the same report by the PFA, it found that 57 players out of the 262 that were spoken to by the PFA had felt “depressed” or had considered “harming themselves”.

This was amongst players playing professionally at the top level, applying this same study to young players in academies and at grassroots level – you might see why the topic of mental health still needs to be discussed.

The slide into depression and loneliness, is one that TJ felt was grabbing hold of him once he was released. Fortunately, TJ still had the opportunity of getting back into education because of his age.

He was able to still play sports at uni and graduate but acknowledges that “it wasn’t the same at all, I have a career now but I wonder everyday what I could have done – I’m still not happy.”

His journey was one that allowed him to forge a different career for himself - even if it's one he's not happy with. However, that isn’t the case for many others who have fallen through the academy system – struggling to focus on something that doesn't make them happy.

The issue of mental health doesn’t just stop in London and the UK, it even extends across Europe.

A study focusing on players by Vincent Gouttebarge in 2018, found that footballers are at a higher rate of suffering from common mental disorders (CMD) – like anxiety and depression due to the heightened stresses that professional football brings on and off the pitch.

Coach Nabil realises that there is a lot of work to be done if the stigma of mental health is to be lifted within football, but he says the way to go about it has to be different.

He believes that professional footballers have a “big role to play” in reaching out to the younger generation, being honest about the struggles and the realities. Suggesting that professional players should be, “visiting players at school or at grass-roots…Kids I feel will receive the message clearer and it would give them (the young players) an opportunity to also ask questions.”

Football is a sport that captures the minds of everybody, brings whole communities together and with Euro 2020 can bring the whole country together. However, when looking past the bright lights and enjoyment that football can bring, the pressures of trying to break into the sport at the highest level shouldn’t be disregarded.

When reaching out to the FA for their take on this issue, they offered a statement on player welfare and safeguarding: “The professional leagues and their clubs are primarily responsible for the development and well-being of players who are active in the elite academy system, and bespoke regulations are employed throughout. They also provide a wide variety of support services to both scholars and former youth players who are no longer involved in the game alongside the Professional Footballers’ Association [PFA]. We work closely with all of these stakeholders as the governing body of English football to ensure that the highest possible standards are upheld and the welfare of both current and former players is prioritised