Kilkenny legend Richie Power reveals his battle with gambling addiction
Former Kilkenny hurler Richie Power has revealed his battle with a gambling addicition: "I just tried to hide it and continued on down that long, lonely, dark road until I eventually couldn’t go any further at the end of 2013.”
Kilkenny’s eight-time All-Ireland SHC winner Richie Power has revealed the personal turmoil he endured as a result of his gambling addiction.
The two-time All-Star opened up about his guilt and shame that he had disappointed his family having told them of his difficulties in late 2013.
“I’ve struggled with a gambling addiction,” he told BBC Radio Ulster’s The GAA Social Podcast. “It started at a relatively young age, around probably 17, maybe 18 and it would have been very small at the beginning. Then it just took a hold of me, really, grabbed a hold of me as it does as it has affected so many other people as well.
“It affected me throughout my sporting career. Being an inter-county player, you have so much free time at weekends. You’re not out socialising, you’re trying to maybe fill that void. Gambling was an escapism for me, away from hurling, away from other problems that were going on in my life.
“Injuries, for example. Any time I would have broken down injured, I’d spiral that way in my own head thinking nobody would say anything, they were going to feel sorry for me and I feel sorry for myself.
“It just had a huge impact on me personally both mentally and physically. I was hurling with Kilkenny and all this was going on in the background. You’re trying to manifest a life that is perfect and great whereas at the back of it you’re in complete turmoil and fighting with it.
“Knowing that I was struggling with an addiction but not being strong enough to ask for help or go home and sit down with my parents and family and not being man enough to do that. I just tried to hide it and continued on down that long, lonely, dark road until I eventually couldn’t go any further at the end of 2013.” After his club Carrickshock were beaten in that year’s senior county final, Power remembers spending the week after it “on the beer”. The following Monday, he attended a meeting with Brian Cody and the rest of his management in Hotel Kilkenny where he was informed he was “surplus to requirements within the Kilkenny set-up”.
“I won’t say he (Cody) was aware of how bad things were but he was aware of my gambling. That kind of led to everything coming out at home with my mam and dad at home, my brother and sister. Everything was put on the table and luckily enough the GPA were a huge help.” Power’s father, another Kilkenny great Richie senior, contacted addiction counsellor and ex-Armagh star Oisín McConville and the three of them met for a couple of hours in the Carrickdale Hotel before Christmas. “That was the start of the road to recovery. There were bumps along the way but that was where I had to make a decision, really. Keep going down that road on my own or sit down and talk about it and manage or arrest it.
“I’ll always be a gambling addict but as long as you keep doing the right things it doesn’t have to affect the rest of your life. 2014 and ‘15 were probably the only two years in a Kilkenny jersey that I didn’t have this going on in the background.” Power says he still harbours feelings of “guilt and shame that I felt I had after bringing to dad and my mam and my family, that I’d after letting them down. On the surface, people would look in seeing you winning All-Irelands year-in, year-out - ‘what could possibly be wrong in this guy’s life?’ Deep down, I certainly was in turmoil.
“I couldn’t say how supportive my family were about it. It was just a case of trying to arrest the addiction. It’ll always be part of who I am. The big thing I learned in recovery over the years is you try not to let it define you. I’m trying but it’s a struggle. You try and learn from it and obviously be a better person from it.” The 36-year-old, who became a father for the second time earlier this year with the birth of Richie Óg, continues to attend addiction meetings every week.
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