As a recovering gambling addict and a huge football fan, I am aware that the prevalence of gambling in football from a young age exacerbated my problem and subsequent addiction. This addiction took to me my darkest places and I am pleased to be over one year in recovery. The sport I love has been infected by gambling and like many others, it infected me too. There are 400,000 problem gamblers in the UK. In the last year 80,000 of these will have thought about suicide and 20,000 of these will have attempted suicide. Source

This tragic data is why, in June, we walked 124 miles in 90 hours around the North of England. The first Big Step was a tough but rewarding challenge where we asked clubs and fans to review their relationship with gambling organsations to prevent and protect problem gamblers in football. The supporters clubs of three of the clubs we visited (Blackburn Rovers, Burnley and Huddersfield Town) are engaging with us to work together to put measures in place at the club to help problem gamblers and raise awareness of gambling harms.

We want to take this message across the country so our next challenge is a 50 mile walk in 25 hours in London. Starting at West Ham United, we will visit Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers and Fulham. All of these clubs have a gambling shirt sponsor for this season. We will also walk to Wembley Stadium, Downing Street and Parliament to take our message to the powers that be.

The challenge will once again raise funds and awareness for Gambling with Lives, a charity set up by bereaved families and friends of gambling addicts who sadly took their own lives. Our ultimate aim of our work is to prevent any more gambling related suicides, with a big step being football clubs evaluating their relationship with gambling and working with people like to us.

For more info checkout The Big Step and The Big Step twitter page