‘Sport is a breeding ground for addiction. I felt totally helpless’
Ex-player Luke Sutton has revealed how alcohol problems took him to the brink, writes Nick Hoult
Luke Sutton is supposed to be driving his diabetic daughter to a hospital appointment. Instead, he is slumped on his kitchen floor drunk. It is 8.45am and he is drinking red wine because it is strong and the bottle is dark green, so he can unscrew the top, have a couple of glasses and nobody would be any the wiser.
Sutton has been drinking solidly for 10 days, a binge that had started with celebrations for his 35th birthday, included being blind drunk at Euston station – where he bumped into old Lancashire team-mates – and culminated in that missed hospital appointment. It was his lowest moment, but also the one which changed his life.
Sutton played cricket for 14 years as a wicketkeeper-batsman for Somerset, Lancashire and Derbyshire, before retiring in 2011 to become a successful agent to cricketers such as James Anderson, Matt Prior and James Taylor. Only those closest to him have had any idea that behind the successful sportsman and businessman is the story of a bitter battle with mental health problems, alcohol addiction and bereavement.
Sutton, 43, has just published a book entitled Back from the Edge. It is a raw account of his alcoholism and the process of rebuilding his life. It centres on his 28-day stay in the Priory, and there cannot be many more brutally honest or revealing descriptions of what goes on behind the walls of an addiction centre. There is barely a mention of his cricket career.
Instead, it is a manual about recovering from alcohol addiction and a warning to governing bodies and player associations about the pitfalls of ignoring the danger signs in young sportspeople.
“The last 10-day period before I went into the Priory was horrific,” he tells Telegraph Sport. “I was at Euston station and was completely helpless. I was desperate for help, but I did not know what with. I just knew that something was seriously wrong. Turning up to the house and not being able to take the kids to hospital because of the state I was in, that was a dark moment.
“The hardest moment was sat in the Priory on day one and the realisation of what was happening to me. This was not part of my life’s plan. How did I end up here?
“I felt desperate and alone. I was sober, so the feelings were very real. It was total breakdown.”
Sutton had spent years fighting alcohol problems. He would go drinking in Sydney, at 8.30am, when he was playing grade cricket in Australia. He was once rushed to hospital with pancreatitis after a bender while playing for Derbyshire and was told by the doctors never to drink again.
On a pre-season tour to Portugal he blacked out in the resort car park for four hours after a heavy night. But he would also train hard, pushing his body as a “punishment and reward” mentality took over.
The most moving section of the book is about the death of his girlfriend, Nia Walters, in a car crash aged 26. Sutton describes sitting in their flat waiting for her to come home. He had bought an engagement ring and planned to propose in a few weeks’ time on holiday in Mexico. He called her several times without success. Then her parents came over to tell him the devastating news.
“It was like a bomb arriving in my life. I just was not capable of dealing with it,” he says. “I lost the compass of how to live. I thought it was why I drank but, although it accelerated things, it was not the big reason why I was behaving like that. The peak point came when I finished playing.”
Sutton was booked into the Priory by Kerry Chapple, wife of his Lancashire team-mate, Glen. They saved his life.
Eight years on and Sutton has not had a drop of alcohol. “It is not for me,” he says. “It does not make me happy or live a good life. For three years after I left the Priory, I went back and volunteered. That massively helped me to get used to life with such change.”
The book ends with a plea. More needs to be done to save other sportspeople ending up the same way. “My book is a warning to players and governing bodies. Professional sport is a breeding ground for addiction because the type of person who excels in it and the demands of it are the same attributes that might lead to something. They are going to struggle to find balance.”