The Sports Media - On the Horns of a Dilemma

It seems fair to say that we live in interesting times.  Fine Gael and Fianna Fail's "love that dare not speak its name" has finally come to fruition; a serial-bankrupt, day-glo builder has been selected to rule the world; and a sports-show, funded by a betting firm, discusses gambling addiction three times over the course of one week.  If you've been preparing for The Rapture, it's probably time to put on your Sunday best.  

The sports-show in question is Newstalk's highly-popular Off The Ball.  Last Sunday (27th November), they began their series of discussions with Declan Lynch.  Declan had written an article in that day's Irish Independent, entitled: "Is it the right time to derail our gambling supertrain?"  Declan has long been at the forefront of raising awareness around gambling addiciton in Ireland and doesn't pull any punches when it comes to highlighting some of the questionable practices of the gambling industry.  

At the time, I thought that this was a brave, if somewhat tokenistic move, on the part of the show's producers.  Imagine my surprise when, just a few days later (1st December), Ger Gilroy interviewed recovering gambling addict and Tyrone footballer, Cathal McCarron, on the same show.  Ger begins by saying: "I think that it's incredibly important that we talk about  gambling addiction  and about the industry, as well, particularly as, in the sports media, we have a very close relationship with the betting industry and sometimes that can be uncomfortable for us.  On a personal level I have seen the devastation that gambling has wreaked on families and on careers."  Ger goes on to show himself to be sensitive to, and knowledgable about, the harm caused by gambling addiction.  

Just when I was beginning to think that Christmas had come early - ALL of my Christmases came together.  This manifested itself in the form of a third discussion on gambling addiction on yesterday's show (3rd December).  The panel discussion included Declan Lynch, as well as addiction treatment specialist, Dr Garrett McGovern and recovering substance addict and poker afficionado, John Leonard (AKA, Sober Paddy).  The discussion was wide-ranging, intelligent and nuanced.  They covered everything from harm-prevention and harm-reduction to the pros and cons of the 12-step treatment model, gambling advertising and the "gamblification" of sport and the sports media.  [By "gamblification", I mean the process by which the gambling industry has embedded itself into sporting bodies and media organisations by getting them hooked on their cold, hard cash.]

By the end of the week, I had to take a long, hard look at myself.  This no longer looked, sounded or smelled like tokenistic box-ticking from Off The Ball.  In fact, this had the whiff of a group of people who might actually genuinely care about the harm that is caused by gambling in this country, while also struggling with the fact that they (and many of their colleagues) are overly-dependent on gambling industry funding.  

As an addiction counsellor, I am always looking out for dysfunctional "Black & White Thinking" in my clients.  This sort of binary thinking is often a strong indicator of the type of cognitive distortions which can lead to addictions and other issues.  "Life is lived in the Grey", I can hear myself saying, over and over again.  However, when seeing the harm caused by gambling and other addictions on a regular basis, it can be easy to slip into a Good Guys vs Bad Guys mindset - or, in other words: "If you're not with us, you're agin' us!".    

As I work through my own internal conflict on this one, I have to commend Ger Gilroy and the rest of the Off The Ball team on grappling with the Horns of their own Dilemma.  It can't be easy to watch the increasing harm caused by gambling in Irish society, while at the same time deal with the financial realities of commercial radio.  At least by acknowledging that the "close relationship" can be "uncomfortable" for them, they, to my mind, are making a step in the right direction.  As workers in the addiction field will often tell you, "The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem".  

Discussion on gambling starts around half-way through the clip.