Breaking:Toffolo on betting charges: “I felt like I lost everything.”

Toffolo on betting charges: “I felt like I lost everything.”  

 

Harry Toffolo of Nottingham Forest claims that his history of betting “inspired” him to assist people with

gambling and mental health issues because he thought it would end his career.

For 375 infractions of betting regulations, the 28-year-old defender received a five-

month suspension that was suspended in September.

His “mental health was at a very low ebb” at the time of the bets, according to the independent commission that heard the case.

Toffolo remarked, “I felt like I lost everything,” in response to the accusations.

It was without a doubt the most challenging period of my life and career.

“It terrifies me since I believed the dream I had worked so hard to achieve was

gone during the final year of my contract.

“I was thinking my career is going to be over because of what happened six to nine years ago, which came back to sting me.”

Toffolo called the Football Association’s independent regulatory commission’s decision to impose a suspended ban and

a fine of nearly £21,000 “the light at the end of the tunnel” following five months of uncertainty.

Toffolo told BBC Radio Nottingham, “I dropped on the floor and had a full-on

panic attack when I got that email sent through from the FA [outlining breaches].”

“Those bets were unfamiliar to me, but I recognized the user names. They’re not

where I put them, but they’re me. The person on that Excel spreadsheet is not who I am.

I felt ashamed and mortified by them.

“My kids will never forget the day they saw their daddy cry.”

The investigation into the former Millwall, Lincoln, and Huddersfield full-back’s betting violations, which stemmed

from his time at Norwich City and included loan stints at Swindon, Rotherham, Peterborough, and

Scunthorpe between 2014 and 2017, was first made known to him in April of last year.

At the time, Toffolo wagered fifteen times against his own team, most of them were

accumulators. In 2015, when his Swindon team lost 4-0 to Preston in the

League One play-off final, he also wagered two twenty-five-pound bets on himself to score.

I put it in a box.”

Toffolo claimed he was unaware that players were not allowed to wager on football until he joined Lincoln in 2018.

Prior to joining the Imps, he informed the commission that he believed

gambling would enable him to “fit in” with more experienced players.

Toffolo claimed that “it was how football was back then” in an interview with BBC

East Midlands Today, noting that many people at the time lacked the same awareness.

The commission took into account a number of factors, including Toffolo’s “considerable time” between the

breaches and his charges, his display of “genuine remorse,” his candor about his betting, the specifics of his mental health

issues at the time of the bets, and his offer to assist the FA in educating players about gambling

Toffolo stated to BBC Midlands He admitted in his defense that he struggled

with depression during times when he was out on loan and that he experienced moments of “loneliness” growing up.

“I have a lot of respect for the independent panel for listening to my

story and taking everything into account,” Toffolo stated.

“But because I put myself in this situation, I don’t harbor any resentment.

It’s a part of my life I boxed away because I hated that person – I hated

everything about that person and I didn’t want anything associated with that person.”

The year of Toffolo’s suspended suspension coincided with the eight- and

ten-month bans for Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali and Brentford striker Ivan Toney, respectively.

The Premier League and other sports governing bodies “should commit to

cutting the volume” of gambling advertisements in stadiums, a powerful group of MPs stated in December.

“I feel more whole than I have ever felt.”

Toffolo has started starting for Forest regularly in the Premier League since his

case was settled. Last week, he was named an ambassador for Tricky to Talk,

a Forest community trust initiative that encourages people to talk openly about mental health.

Toffolo’s Forest contract was extended past this season earlier in January.

“Some people might get down by it [the disciplinary process], but I feel like I have more energy from it,” Toffolo stated.

“Although I feel resilient, I also feel obligated to try to help and wish that it never happens to anyone else.

Now that it’s up to me as an individual to ask, ‘What can I do to help, how can I

protect my children from putting them in this position?’ I find it encouraging.

For five months, it was all about finishing each one off one at a time.

“I made it through, and I’ve never had a better career than I do now.”

I feel like I have practically nothing to lose because I thought I had lost

everything, which makes me feel the most complete I have ever felt in my life right now.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the chance to continue playing.

“I just go out there and I fight for the fans and fight for my family because I’m

sitting here now and I’m extremely grateful to even have this opportunity to talk about it.”

Toffolo was speaking with Charlie Slater of BBC East Midlands Today and David Jackson of BBC Radio Nottingham.

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