Old teammates pay tribute to tragic secret gambling addict
AN amateur football club will today pay a touching tribute to a former player who took his own life after becoming addicted to gambling.
Lewis Keogh, a 34-year-old facilities manager from Burley, Leeds, died in 2013 after keeping his addiction secret from everyone who knew him.
His old club, Headingley AFC, which carries out regular fundraising in his memory, recently confirmed a sponsorship link-up with Sheffieldbased charity Gambling With Lives.
And Headingley’s players will this afternoon proudly pull on their sponsored shirts for the first time as they face Whitkirk Wanderers in a West Yorkshire Premier Division match.
Lewis’s parents, Peter and Sadie Keogh, have welcomed the tribute, saying they hope it will make people more aware of the dangers of gambling.
Took his own life in 2013 after running up debts of £50,000 to feed his addiction.
Since losing their son, they have channelled their grief into a determination to help other addicts and are working with Gambling With Lives.
Mr Keogh, a 71-year-old retired education publisher, said: “The more we do, the more we realise that we can only scratch the surface.
“This nation of ours is about to be overcome. The amount of people who get involved in gambling, and how it is impacting on families – I see it day in, day out.
“It’s a huge crisis waiting to happen to all of us and I don’t think I am scaremongering in the slightest when I say that.”
Originally from County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, Lewis did a degree in sports science at Teesside University but spent the last nine years of his life in Leeds.
It was not until after his death that his parents discovered he had run up debts of £50,000 through credit cards and bank loans as he fed his addiction.
Mrs Keogh, 72, said: “I’m not angry with Lewis, he was obviously too ashamed to tell us and couldn’t cope on his own.
“His suicide note emphasised that the debt was nothing to do with it. Suicide is a direct result of gambling addiction, not the debt.”