Red Card’s Gambling Awareness for Non-League Football – Bedworth United Academy, March 23rd 2023

On 23rd March, Red Card was delighted to deliver a gambling awareness workshop at Bedworth United FC.

The workshop was part of the Football Non-League Gambling Awareness Project, a two-year pilot scheme funded by the Gambling Commission.

Thanks to their funding, non-league clubs can now benefit from our free educational workshops. For the moment, these are available for clubs located in London, the Home Counties and the Midlands.

How the workshop was received

We really appreciate Jamie Lenton, the Academy Manager and First Team Coach, for providing us with this feedback:

Many thanks to ‘Red Card Gambling Support Project’ and its Founder Tony Kelly, for delivering an excellent workshop along with his colleague Darren on Thursday 23rd March 2023, to our BTEC Academy Education Scholars and the coaching staff, on the issues surrounding gambling.

As an ex professional and semi-professional footballer, who is now lucky enough to work with young players in football, I fully understand the temptations and the culture surrounding gambling in everyday walks of life. Therefore, educating young people about the issues associated with gambling and the impact this can have, not only on the individual themselves, but on friends, family and work colleagues is absolutely essential.

The accessibility to gambling has never been so readily available as it is today, in the digital age we live in. Highlighting the impact of this via an interactive workshop, listening to real life stories of financial ruin, families torn apart, mental health issues and psychological breakdowns, really hits home on how gambling addiction can affect anyone and everyone.

The literature provided by Tony is superb and offers a visual for participants to take home and share with family members. The information includes advice and guidance on how to recognise gambling habits and how best to implement strategies to overcome such problems.

I strongly recommend the ‘Red Card Gambling Support Project’ workshop to players, management, coaches, staff and fans of other football clubs (both semi-professional AND professional), as well as education providers including schools, 6th forms, colleges and universities across the country.

Many thanks Tony.

Find out more

For more information, please visit our Football Non-League Gambling Awareness Project page.

If you’d like to talk to us about the project, please contact us at [email protected] or 07444 512 184.