RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Looking back at his 20-year career in the Irish League, Aaron Hogg remembers the first time he went to the bookies with his team-mates.
A teenager at the time, he did not know the journey it would set him upon. It was a road of debt, broken relationships and severe depression.
The goalkeeper was not the first Irish League player to have a gambling addiction, and he will not be the last.
But now, eight years since he last placed a bet, he is at the heart of an initiative to try and help those who need it through the new player-led Gambling Support Group (GSG).
Its introduction coincides with increased sponsorship of the men's and women's Irish Premiership from betting companies from this season, while the two League Cups and a regional tournament are also sponsored by bookmakers.
From culture to investment and criticism, BBC Sport NI examines the Irish League's relationship with gambling.
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When Hogg started gambling it was for fun, with fruit machines and playing pool as a teenager.
When he stepped into men's football with Crusaders, he would start to go to the bookies with team-mates before matches.
Then he was introduced to hose racing and roulette. Things spiralled from there.
"Gambling's a progressive illness," he said.
"You don't just start off by doing a bet and then all of a sudden you lose your house."
Ultimately, playing football became his "release".
"It was brilliant because my head was completely concentrated on that game and everything else went away, I was at peace for 90 minutes.
"But then I walked back into the dressing room, and as soon as you sit back down your world comes back down on top of you.
"As a gambler, you don't deal with any of your problems. You shy away from everybody, and you try and get more and more money to gamble and dig yourself deeper and deeper in the hole."
Culture in dressing rooms
The Irish FA's betting regulations in Northern Ireland say that players cannot bet on any matches involving their team - at men's, women's or underage level - or league, and no one can place a bet on their behalf.
Michael Carvill, head of the Professional Footballers' Association in Northern Ireland, said it was something he had noticed in a 15-year career at the top of the Irish League.
The PFA are working with the Irish FA and former players with the Gambling Support Group, where support and education are key.
Carvill relates to his former Crusaders team-mate Matthew Snoddy, who is one of four players involved in the GSG alongside Hogg, Aaron Traynor and Michael Ruddy.
"I sat beside Matthew for seven years and I never knew he had an issue," said Carvill, who added you could see players' moods change whenever they checked their phones immediately after games.
"It's something that is concerning when you think you can share a changing room, train with them three nights a week and play with them and you're not aware of what's going on.
"It's really a wake-up call for all of us that this isn't going away. We have to set up something to try and treat it, and that's the purpose of this project."
As Carvill points out, gambling goes far beyond the traditional forms of betting - something he says has "increased risk".
He touches on prize websites and competitions on TV, and says it is even being found in the academy levels of the game in Northern Ireland through gaming and in-game purchases.
Across his career in the Irish League, which started in 2006, Hogg witnessed first hand how the gambling industry changed, and how that impacted players.
While you used to have to go into the bookies to physically place a bet, with smartphones you can now gamble 24/7, and on endless things.
"The markets are now more advanced. It's now become, like roulette, it's almost instant," he said.
"Betting habits have changed. Back then, when I started, there was more a social aspect to it.
"There's just so much accessibility now that it is becoming more and more prevalent to footballers."
The rules in England
Sunderland and Chelsea have not announced a new front-of-shirt sponsor after new rules over gambling companies came into effect for the 2026-27 season [Getty Images]
From the start of this season, betting sponsorship is banned on the front of shirts in England in the Premier League, but still allowed on sleeves and training kits.
The ban, which was voluntarily voted for by clubs, meant eight sides had to find new front of sh i rt sponsors for the upcoming season.
Things are different in the Championship in England, where there are not the same restrictions, and in Scotland, where the SPL is sponsored by a betting company and both champions Celtic and rivals Rangers currently have betting companies on the front of their shirts.
In the Irish Premiership, three clubs - Glentoran, Cliftonville and Crusaders - are all sponsored by betting companies on the front of their shirts, while Linfield have one on their sleeve and champions Larne have it on the backs of their shirts.
Crusaders carry their betting sponsor in the Women's Premiership, while Glentoran's Oval ground in east Belfast also carries the name of a betting company.
The league's new sponsorship deal with a bookmakers also means that the betting company will be on the sleeves of players, on sponsor boards and player of the match trophies, and on the league's social media branding.
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