London – Former Arsenal footballer Tony Adams has revealed that professional cricketers are receiving treatment at his Sporting Chance clinic, in the wake of the inquest into the death of Tom Maynard.
A coroner reported earlier this week that former Surrey batsman Maynard had taken cocaine and ecstasy and was nearly four times over the drink-driving limit when he was fatally hit by a London Underground train in June last year.
“We are already putting cricketers through the Sporting Chance Clinic, rugby players, jockeys,” Adams told The Independent newspaper.
“Denial is strong in some other associations but all in good time, when they are ready.
“The PFA (Professional Footballers' Association) are taking responsibility. The RFL (Rugby Football League) are taking responsibility.
“They are recognising it and if you do want help, there are places where you can go now. That's a big change.”
Adams established his clinic after struggling with alcoholism himself and says it is now much easier for high-profile professional sportsmen and women to seek help.
“Sixteen years ago, when I got sober – and this is why I started the charity – I had nowhere to go, no-one to talk to, no-one to point me in the right direction,” he said.
“Certainly in football now, at the PFA now, within one hour they can get someone to talk to you with the network of counsellors we have got.”
Tests on hair samples showed Maynard, 23, may have been using drugs on a daily basis in the three and half months prior to his death, the inquest at Westminster Coroner's Court heard.
Maynard's housemate Rory Hamilton-Brown and fellow team-mate Jade Dernbach, who had been drinking with him on the night of his death, both told the inquest they were unaware of the former Glamorgan batsman's drug use. – Sapa-AFP