HOPE QUITS LEAGUEA-A- LEAGUE
TASMANIA’S former Melbourne Victory midfielder Josh Hope has quit professional football at the age of just 22 due to anxiety caused by online abuse.
An Australian under- 17 and under- 20 international, Hope wasn’t offered a new contract by Victory at the end of the 2019- 20 season.
Despite receiving an offer to continue his A- League career elsewhere, Hope has walked away from professional football as he struggles to cope with the “relentless shit” aimed at him and other players.
“Some four years it’s been, the life of a professional sportsman. Geez it’s been good, the people you meet and the memories I’ve made, I won’t ever forget,” Tasmanian product Hope posted on Instagram.
“But it’s time for me to call it in, for now … it isn’t all smooth sailing and I just ( want to) put my experiences out there so that if anyone ever feels like they are the only one! Ya not!
“The anxiety that comes with this shit is crazy. I never thought it would get to the point it did.
“I kept pretty quiet about it for a long time but I started to see it creep into my day to day life. And at the end of the day it made me not enjoy my football … at all.
“Critics come with all sports and only the strong survive … but some of the shit is relentless. “I was so over being treated like just a ‘ player’.
“We aren’t just someone you see on the TV screen, we are people no different to anyone else. It didn’t just stop after the final whistle, it’s a constant battle with people who are supposedly meant to be supporting you.
“Some of the things I would see not only regarding myself but others was nothing less than abuse. And I’m not talking football related! Of course, there’s going to be clueless people saying the first thing that pops into their head. But when it gets personal, to the colour of their skin, to how they talk, to a haircut … I get it, it’s a cruel world but geez if that’s how it’s going to be I don’t want to be a part of it.
“Without a doubt this is the hardest decision I’ve ever made but I hope at the end of it I’m going to come back stronger. Mind and body. And be the player I know I am before this shit took over.”
Hope’s agent, John Grimaud, was confident Hope would return “better than ever”.
“Sad when a talented client feels he has to walk away from the game we love mainly due to his experiences with online abuse,” Grimaud tweeted.
“Some will say toughen up, which is easy when they’ve never had to deal with the pressure of being a pro.”