Saw Doctors lining up big summer gigs
Tuam band pals
THE Saw Doctors have announced they are set to return to the stage this summer after performing sell-out shows last year.
Following their four gigs at Dublin’s 3Olympia before Christmas and their concert at Electric Picnic last September, they’ll play Fairview Park on June 29.
Tickets for the North Dublin gig will go on sale on January 26 at 9am from www.ticketmaster.ie.
It is part of a trio of summer shows with the band from Tuam, Co Galway, lined up to play Central Park in New York on July 17 and Manchester Castlefield Bowl on July 6.
The Saw Doctors’ second single, I Useta Lover hit No.1 in Ireland in 1990, remaining top of the charts for nine weeks and becoming the biggest selling Irish single ever.
A Dad-of-three who spent over €80,000 on gambling after getting hooked aged 15 says betting apps mean it is “so easy” for people to become addicted.
Eoin Coyne, 35, has been clean from gambling for 10 years after making his last bet in January 2014.
Now an outspoken advocate against the harm it causes, Eoin said he first got hooked when he took up a job at a greyhound track as a teen and would spend his entire weekly wage on bets.
Moving between divorced parents’ homes meant they didn’t know the truth about his addiction, he said.
He began betting on horses and football and at college was “spending a lot more time at the bookies than in lectures”.
Eoin, from Youghal, Co Cork, only admitted he had an addiction and confessed to his then-girlfriend and future wife Jenny when he gambled away their property deposit.
He got clean after charity Gamcare offered him a free counselling session a week, which he still does sporadically 10 years on. The project manager says if he placed one bet now he’d be hooked again and said betting apps make it easier than ever to bet huge amounts.
Eoin said: “I used to get paid €100 each shift at the track, but I would always end up leaving my shift with no wages. That was the first sign of a potential problem that I should have listened to.
“Then when I left school and went to university I realised I was spending a lot more time at the bookies than in lectures, and the pattern of having no money at the end of the week was a common occurrence.
“Apart from the money, I think the time I lost was much more valuable. I should have been having fun .... and travelling and interrailing with all my friends, which would have been a much better use of my money.
“I got a smartphone about a year before I stopped gambling, and the use of the apps like Bet365 certainly accelerated my addiction. It’s a worry because it makes it so much easier for young boys to start gambling without having to walk into a bookies, and just go on their phones.”
While in college, Eoin received a €6,000 bonus from University College Cork and blew the whole package on a trip to Las Vegas at the blackjack table.
The addiction led him to drop out of his politics degree as well as skive off work to spend the day in the bookies.
He said: “I never admitted to having a problem, and I took a six-month break when I turned 22 but I just told myself I was taking a break, not that I needed to.
“Then when I moved to London I had a lot more free time and I was feeling homesick, so the bookie felt like a bit of familiarity with the same noises and games, so then I was back to gambling again and the same pattern of having no extra
cash.” Eoin moved in with Coyne family his girlfriend, now-wife Jenny. They saved £1,000 for a deposit on a flat in London, which the then24-year-old secretly gambled away in 2013.
He realised there was an issue and gave up – but that only lasted for three weeks until he started secretly gambling again.
Eoin made his last bet on January 15, 2014.
He estimates he would have spent tens of thousands more if he carried on.
He now lives with his wife, and kids Nell, Donagh and Micheal in Youghal.
He said: “My wife was a fantastic help. She is still amazing. She always had full trust in me.”
Although pleased to have gotten out of the cycle, he admits he still wouldn’t be able to put a bet on anything without his addiction returning.
He said: “I still think of those big wins and I can sense the adrenaline and kick it gave me, so I would never want to go back into a bookies.”
She is still amazing. She always had full trust in me EOIN COYNE ON SUPPORT OF JENNY