Off Script: Bellamy opens up on depression
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What challenges did Craig Bellamy face during lockdown?
Good afternoon and welcome to the latest edition of Offscript. I'm delighted to say I'm joined not just by my friend and colleague from Sky, Jamie Carragher, but also a former teammate of Jamie's and also a colleague of mine from Sky in the shape of Craig Bellaby. Good afternoon to you both. Craig, how are you during lockdown? Because I know as a person, you are somebody who likes to be very active. You must be finding this tough.
It's the last two, three weeks have been very, very difficult.
Um,
To start with, you feel it's going to be over very soon, but the realisation kicks in that it's not, it's going to take a while. We still don't know, but the simple fact is people are staying safe.
How did injuries impact Craig Bellamy's mental health?
With my family and with my in-laws at the moment, my missus is pregnant, so it's a difficult position for all of us, but everyone else is in the same boat, so we just have to get on with it.
I don't know if you've seen the Andy Murray documentary, Craig, He talks about his struggles with injury, mental struggles during an injury. As somebody who had injuries himself, is that A, something that you can identify with? And B, given how now it is far more at the forefront of society's mind and people are far more open about it, do you think if your career was starting again now, do you think modern-day players are better prepared to deal with it mentally than perhaps you were? And just how bad did it get for you?
Well, we... It wasn't... I think a lot of our habits as footballers is what you're taught when you're young. And they sort of stay with you. Like, I remember I had brilliant coaches at Norwich when I first started off who taught me a lot. And a lot of it lives with me now. But Some of it actually wasn't beneficial and it wasn't their fault. It was what they knew. You know, things like when you look at money, don't worry about money. Money will come. Money will go. Concentrate on your football. You look at, like I remember even Sir Bobby Robson telling me, you know, about a scam. I was going to go to a scam.
What lessons did Craig learn from his childhood experiences?
He was like, no, you don't go to scams. Let the wife deal with all that. You concentrate on football. So it was a lot of habits. But you're missing out on a lot of life as well. Football's only here a short time. And that's why you probably see a lot of footballers more from our generation do struggle with it. But really, if you break it down, I remember when I went to see... I was at Liverpool with Zaf. I know Karen knows him really well. Steve Peters? Yeah. I'll get to the Zaf first. He's seen one or two problems with me. And he's seen them before, but he's seen them escalate. And I've never really... I never really noticed that I just seen it as just normal habits for myself. Um, and he addressed, you know, he had, we had a good conversation and, and really he recommended me that to Steve Peters.
And, and when I seen him was, um, it was, it was a bit of a wake up call for myself because a lot of the habits, you know, I was in, I was injured when I was, I moved away from home from a very young age. So I was 15 when I moved away from home. Um,
How did Craig Bellamy cope with homesickness as a young player?
And you imagine a lot of 15-year-old boys moving the other end of the country away from everyone, away from family and the loneliness. Being homesick was the hardest I've ever had to deal with. That was, you know, there was nights you're crying yourself to sleep. You can't speak to really anyone. It was only football. Your friends were able to go away, like go back home on weekends. I was stuck in, you know, you think of it, you know, a 15, 16-year-old kid stuck in his digs. We called it digs at the time. on a weekend or when you're waiting for people to come back and the effect I probably look back now when you get older you understand a lot more and that's just natural and so I have a look you know look back and a lot of how I was and the anger I had you know like even my parents now like even I look at my father I was really close to my father we have never really bridged that gap because I sort of held him responsible for making me go there
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What challenges did Craig Bellamy face during lockdown?
0:03–0:47
2
How did injuries impact Craig Bellamy's mental health?
0:47–2:14
3
What lessons did Craig learn from his childhood experiences?
2:14–3:20
4
How did Craig Bellamy cope with homesickness as a young player?
3:20–4:54
5
What role did sports psychology play in Craig's career?
4:54–6:26
6
How has Craig's understanding of depression evolved over time?
6:26–8:11
7
What advice does Craig have for young players dealing with pressure?
8:11–11:21
8
How does Craig reflect on his football career and its challenges?
11:21–50:20
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Sky Sports Premier League Podcast
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