The whole Tonali thing rubbed me up the wrong way because of how Newcastle handled it, sure they have to support their player etc but these are grown adults, very wealthy adults at that and they’re not stupid.
They’re very well aware of the rules and know gambling within the sport is illegal, so I find it hard to sympathise with players like Tonali and his cabal. You’ve done an illegal thing and there are consequences for it… that’s it really.
What made me laugh was Newcastle/the player angling it as an addiction problem - which it may be in some cases like Ivan Toney’s, but the majority of players get by fine without gambling as far as we know. There are rules for a reason, you already live privileges lives, why put your career or the games integrity at risk?
It’s your opinion and that’s fine, however, I don’t see your point.
Being a professional sportsman does not exclude you from addiction. If anything, to become a top sportsman or woman, you need some kind of addictive personality to be able to maintain the necessary drive to reach the top.
Having money does not exclude you from having an addictive personality. Particularly with gambling, the constant and easy access to plenty of money would accentuate the situation.
Being a professional male footballer, does conspire to put potential addictive personalities under a lot of pressure. Constant advertising acting as reminders, social media commentary working overtime mentioning whether you won or lost a bet for someone, etc, etc.
Every individual case is different, but having listened to some ex players (such as Hendrie and Etherington), I certainly do have some sympathy. The truth will out for Tonali and Toney, but I do sincerely hope they get the get the help they need (if they do need it).