Ex Wrexham star Marc Williams tells of gambling addiction and the moment he knew he’d hit ‘rock bottom’ – North Wales Live

Former Wrexham striker Marc Williams has spoken passionately about helping others who have suffered from addiction problems after he himself experienced what he calls his 'rock bottom' just a few years ago. Now aged 33, Williams is enjoying his football once more after a succession of injuries and gambling addiction threatened to derail his once-promising career.

Williams came through the ranks at Wrexham AFC, breaking into the first team at the age of 18. After enjoying an impressive start to the 2008/09 season, the former Wales under 21 international was widely tipped for a bright future in the game until a broken foot hampered his progress significantly.

It was during his period on the sidelines that his gambling addiction took hold. Thankfully, Williams has overcome his demons and now visits sports clubs in order to share his experiences as well as educating others about gambling addiction.

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Speaking to North Wales Live, Williams revealed that he had opportunities to move clubs just before his injury but decided to stay with his beloved Dragons. "Gambling took me to my rock bottom, I got injured at the biggest purple patch of my career (during the 2008/09 season). I potentially could have moved in the January but I wanted to stay at my boyhood club Wrexham and get them promoted," said Williams.

"I struggled with that injury - I was lonely, bored and on my own. The only way I could cope with that was to start gambling and from that it got worse."

"My football wages were there and when I got back fit there was something else occupying my brain - I just wanted to get off the training pitch and continue gambling. It completely changed me, I became extremely angry and I changed how I treated people.

"I neglected my little girl. I remember the last day I had a bet, November 7, 2018 - I broke down in front of my little girl, crying my eyes out.

"I'd just had my last 10,000 I could get my hands on, I couldn't get any more money I was that much in debt. I looked at her and thought to myself 'wow, not only am I ruining my life, I'm ruining her future'.

"That was my rock bottom. I knew I needed help, from that point I vowed I was going to get help and be a better person and father."

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Williams said that having the support of his family and friends has been a huge boost. He also went on to say he hopes that to see the stigma around gambling removed so that more people will open up about their struggles.

Williams said: "I'm coming up to four years now, this November. It's been a long road, but I've had a lot of support from my parents, my siblings and my partner Zoe has been really supportive. I can only try to be a better person from this point, I can only try and help people as much as I can.

"I don't want other people to feel alone, we need to take that stigma away from gambling and stop it being that taboo subject. For all those years I was embarrassed and ashamed but I just felt I couldn't open up and that's what we're trying to change.

"At Epic Risk Management we have partnerships with the EFL (English Football League) and the Rugby Players Associations as well as the cricket also. We're quite fortunate to be able to visit these sports clubs, delivering our lived experiences and providing the educational side of it.

"Recently I've done a few talks at Blackpool, Hull City, Newport County, Tranmere Rovers and Crewe Alexandra. We go around all 72 EFL clubs so it's been great to share my experiences.

"We cover all bases to raise that awareness. We also go to schools and make them aware of how detrimental gambling can be."

Williams went on to say that he is finally enjoying his football again, plying his trade for Cymru North side Llandudno FC. He said: "I love being back at Llandudno, it's probably the lowest level I've played but it's not about that - it's about putting on the jersey, working hard and being part of a team. Eards (Llandudno manager Sean Eardley) brings the best out of me and it's a great place to be.

"I'm looking forward to next season already. Hopefully we can go one better and win the league, but for me now it's how I feel around the place - playing with a smile on my face, that means the world to me."

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Ex Wrexham star Marc Williams tells of gambling addiction and the moment he knew he'd hit 'rock bottom' - North Wales Live