Former Arsenal footballer Tony Adams has revealed that professional cricketers are receiving treatment at his Sporting Chance clinic, in the wake of 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.
“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 teammate Jade Dernbach, who had been drinking with him on the night of his death, both told the inquest they were unaware of his drug use.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan hopes the increased testing for recreational drugs promised by cricket chiefs will “frighten” anyone still using them.
“There will be players in cricket who have taken recreational drugs and are still doing it, but I hope Tom Maynard’s tragic story will make them stop,” Vaughan wrote in Britain’s Daily Telegraph.
Before Maynard’s death, Surrey were captained by Hamilton-Brown, a friend since school, who stepped down from the leadership and later joined Sussex.
Surrey have recruited Ricky Ponting and South Africa captain Graeme Smith as overseas players for the coming English season.
Vaughan said the influence of two such vastly experienced cricketers could have a hugely beneficial effect on the Oval-based county’s youthful squad.
“There was a lack of those players at Surrey 12 months ago but next summer they will have Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting,” Vaughan wrote.
“Two men who are exactly the right kind of role models for young kids making their way in cricket.”
