Legacy in memory of football player who died due to gambling addiction

Now, Headingley AFC uses every opportunity possible, to raise awareness and help others who might be suffering from the addiction - which claims one life a day in Britain.

Headingley AFC is keeping alive the name of their former team mate Lewis Keogh, who died in 2013, after he kept his habit a secret from everyone who knew him, until he suddenly and shockingly took his own life at the age of 34.

Heartbreakingly, his suicide note included the words ‘addiction is cruel’.

There is an estimated 10,000 gambling addicts in Leeds alone, and many more at risk from developing an addiction.

And as a new NHS National Gambling Clinic in partnership with charity GamCare is set to open in Leeds in September - players at Lewis’ old club are more determined than ever to tackle the gambling crisis - an industry which generates up to 7 billion pounds each year.

Callum Butcher, chairman of Headingley AFC, said: “Earlier this year we made national news when we became the first club to be sponsored by an anti-gambling charity, Gambling with Lives.

“The exposure this initiative received since has exceeded our expectations and we are now determined to continue to raise awareness of the problems associated with gambling, not just in Leeds but across the UK.

Headingley AFC in their new kits sponsored by Gambling With Lives charity, with charity founders Charlie and Liz Ritchie.

"Lewis encapsulated the club's ethos perfectly and the devastation felt when he took his own life, shocked our club to the core.

“We miss him terribly but by continuing to organise events like this, we celebrate everything that he stood for."

The club now uses each one of its West Yorkshire League fixtures as an opportunity to spread the gamble aware message through having Gambling With Lives as its kit sponsor - reaching

players and supporters of clubs across the region.

The Gambling with Lives charity is supported by Lewis’s parents Peter and Sadie, who have spoken about their lasting grief – and their fight to make sure no other family suffers the same terrible loss.

Previously Lewis’s father Peter told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “The more we do, the more we realise that we can only scratch the surface.

“This nation of ours is about to be overcome. The amount of people who get involved in gambling, and how it is impacting on families – I see it day in, day out.

“It’s a huge crisis waiting to happen to all of us and I don’t think I am scaremongering in the slightest when I say that.”

It was not until after Lewis died that Peter and Sadie discovered that he had run up debts of £50,000 through credit cards and bank loans as he fed an addiction that had held him in its grip for six or seven years.

He is thought to have made occasional visits to a casino but, in the main, gambled on internet roulette and poker games.

Following Lewis’ death his family met with the parents of another man who had battled a gambling addiction.

Jack Ritchie, from Sheffield, was 24 when he took his own life in November 2017. He had been struggling with the addiction since he was 17.

His parents Charles and Liz Ritchie say that a failure by UK authorities to treat gambling problems had contributed to his death.

They set up the charity Gambling with Lives and campaign to make the government and gambling companies accountable for gambling-related deaths.

Headingley AFC chairman Callum Butcher said the club was now partnering with Guiseley AFC for a celebrity football match to be held in late September, to raise further awareness for their club sponsors Gambling with Lives.

Joe Ward, captain of Headingley AFC, added: “We want to help spread the message about the incredible damage that gambling addiction is doing to families and the lack of action that we feel is being taken to protect vulnerable young people."

Each October Headingley AFC holds an annual event in Lewis' memory where former players return to play against the current team and get together.

It is a family-oriented event where people from the club's 17 year history get together to honour his memory.

This year's memorial event on October 20 is at Leeds Beckett University.

GAMBLING FACTFILE:

There is an estimated 430,000 gambling addicts in the UK today, with a further 2 million at risk.

NHS statistics show that only around five percent of people seek help and only one percent get treatment for their gambling problem. If the problem is left to develop, debts can spiral out of control and people can become withdrawn and depressed, which can affect their professional lives and relationships with other people.

Gambling is very addictive; the adrenaline rush associated with the possibility of pulling off a big win is often described by gamblers as an ‘unbeatable feeling’.

Most people can control the desire to gamble and if they start losing, they will stop. However, for some, the possibility of a win is extremely enticing and they will carry on going until they win, regardless of how much money they lose along the way.

Charity Gambling with Lives aims to:

-Support families who have been bereaved by gambling related suicides

-Raise awareness amongst gamblers, their families and friends, and health professionals of the dangerous effects of gambling on mental health and the high suicide risk

More details www.gamblingwithlives.org

In the UK the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or [email protected]

GamCare has a telephone helpline 0808 8020 133 or via web chat at