Breaking:Forest player, talks candidly about his battle with mental illness and gambling.

Forest player, talks candidly about his battle with mental illness and gambling.

Harry Toffolo, a star for Nottingham Forest, told ITV News that he was afraid

his career was over after the FA charged him for football-related betting.

He said he wanted this interview to help others after opening up for the first time

about how his poor mental health caused him to place hundreds of bets when he was a teenager

He said to Dan Salisbury-Jones, the sports correspondent for ITV News Central:

“There were times during the betting where I felt like I was done.

“And my Premier League opportunity was over. Thus, you can appreciate my mental state.”

It was terrible. And it wasn’t pleasant at all for my kids to watch me go through

those times. And for that reason, I’m extremely appreciative of my family’s support system.

Football’s governing body discovered in September that, between 2014 and 2017, he had broken the rules 375 times.

Two of the forty bets were on him, and the other forty involved his own team.

He received a suspended ban from the FA, but he was still able to play.

His Forest career has taken off since the news broke, thanks to his dominating

performances and first Premier League goal.

Toffolo discussed his experience and said, “It was a very difficult time in my

life, but it didn’t define who I am today. It strengthened me and almost made me better.”

“It made me better in the sense that I wanted to help others, because I don’t want anybody to go through what I went

through because it wasn’t enjoyable for my family, it wasn’t enjoyable for my wife now who was my girlfriend at the time”

I was on the verge of punishment when I went back to six or nine years ago,

before my children were even born, and my son was hearing comments at school

and in various clubs that suggested his father would have to retire. You will be let go. He’s going to lose his job.”

When that arrived home, I immediately sat down and thought, ‘Oh my god, what have I done?'” I was eighteen, nineteen,

twenty years old, six to nine years ago. It seemed as though everything would eventually return.”

Toffolo now serves as an ambassador for Nottingham Forest Community Trust’s Tricky to Talk mental health program.

Beginning in 2019, the hub serves as a biweekly unofficial safe space at City

Ground where individuals can discuss mental health and wellness in a relaxed setting.

The group’s current goals include providing a safe environment for discussing mental health, organizing

wellbeing walks, and offering training on suicide prevention and mental health awareness.

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