Oct 11,2024
Republic of Ireland striker Aaron Connolly has opened up about his struggles with alcohol and admitted his Premier League breakthrough at Brighton and Hove Albion led to five years of off-the-field turmoil.
Connolly burst on to the scene in October 2019 when he scored a brilliant brace in a 3-0 victory against Tottenham.
Then aged 19, he was tipped for huge things, but the Galway man never really built on that spectacular start. He had loan spells at Luton Town, Middlesbrough and Italian side Venezi before moving to Hull City.
Now at Sunderland, he's trying to relaunch his career having spent a month in an addiction treatment clinic during the summer.
"(The game against Spurs) was one of the best days of my life, but also one of the worst because the following five years was from that," he told the Sunderland club website to mark World Mental Health Day.
"I just stopped working, stopped doing the things I should have kept doing. I started to believe the hype, and I just didn’t turn into a good person after that. I was tough to be around.
"I didn’t know how to deal with it, if I’m being honest. My parents tried, but they weren’t living with me. I was living with my ex-girlfriend at the time, and it’s hard because I didn’t ever feel like I had that authoritative figure to keep me grounded.
"My parents did try, but I just let myself believe everything people were saying online and it just took over. I always say to my parents, I started to live the life of a footballer without the football side of it.
"That was the hardest thing to admit at the time, that I wasn't doing all the things that had got me to the position where I could go and get my house and treat my family, and do all that sort of stuff.
"It hurts to look back and speak about it because I know if I had done everything right, maybe I would still be in the Premier League. Maybe I wouldn't, but at least I’d know I’d given it all I could to try to stay at that level."
"I couldn't control what I could do and couldn’t control my alcohol."
In a startlingly honest interview, Connolly admitted he lost his sense of discipline when it came to football, and instead leaned increasingly heavily on alcohol.
"It felt like my buzz used to come from football, and 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," he said.
"I used to look forward to the games finishing so I could have time to go and have a drink and socialise.
"I say socialise, but it was just an excuse to go and get drunk, to go straight to alcohol, and that was where I got my buzz from, whereas before, it was always the buzz of football and being around an environment like I am now.
"For three or four years, that just wasn’t there. I couldn't do it, I couldn’t live the way I was living. It was killing people round me, to be honest. My family, my friends. Mainly, it was killing me, really.
"I had one of my best seasons last year at Hull, but off the pitch, my life was a mess. The manager at Hull, to be fair, always looked after me, and always tried to help.
"But it just got to a point where, it wasn’t like life wasn’t worth living, it wasn’t a big dramatic thing, but it was just that my life was so unmanageable and I couldn’t control what I could do and couldn’t control my alcohol."
He made the decision to attend a treatment clinic, and subsequently joined the Black Cats on a one-year deal. They are currently top of the Championship table.
"I just said to my agent, 'I don’t want you to contact any clubs. I’m not doing this for football, I’m doing this so I can get my life back, and if stuff in football comes with that, then that’s a bonus’," added Connolly.
"It wasn’t even the football that was taking the biggest battering in the end, it was my life, my relationships, my friends. Everything was just failing and falling apart.
"When your parents are calling you and you’re not answering calls because you know you’re breaking their hearts, it’s time to realise that you’ve got a problem.
"It's an addiction, and the toughest thing I ever had to do was go in there. The PFA helped me pay for my treatment, and I know some people might not be able to afford it, but it’s important to know it’s not just park bench, vodka bottle. Anybody can get affected by it."
