Marvin Sordell is more than a footballer.
He is a writer, filmmaker, and a cook (sometimes) who campaigns to help players deal with the mental health issues they face – before facing them.
For a moment though, he was … a footballer. And only a footballer. Sordell, who contributed to BT Sport film State of play, said 90min this week: "One of my biggest problems was that football was who I was, my job was the one I was. My emotions followed each training or match – I could have a bad touch and I felt lousy, I would score a goal and I would feel incredible.
"I was asked a lot of questions about social networks, things like" Why do not you play? I heard that you were not trying hard enough, and I felt that any attack on my abilities was an attack on my personality and character. , with other unresolved problems, quite a snowball.I got to the point a few years later, when I tried to kill myself. "
"Many players play or play video games, but none of these are very productive."
His experiences with depression have led him to reevaluate his perception of the outdoors of football – he describes it as "…"trying to avoid that his emotion is related to his work – and using his downtime to develop a new sense of self.
"Many players play or play video games, but none of them are very productive, if you have the resources (like most players) and the time (which all football players have) , so the focus should be on as productive as possible, you can not physically train all day long, you have to rest, but that does not mean that you can not put your mind to the test during an hour or two a day.
"If you have a bad day at workout, if you have something to project yourself, you will not think about training anymore and you will come back the next day rested and coming back clear minded. "
While Sordell admits that football dressing rooms have evolved with society, ways to support themselves in a "progressive" way, he speaks pbadionately about what he sees as the weaknesses of the current system.
"The support is there for once, a player has gone through problems," he says. "I think the problem I have now is that there is nothing in place to prevent players from engaging in this path.
"We should see it at an early stage, preventing players from making this phone call to Sporting Chance, the PFA or attempting to commit suicide. Speaking to the players, pushing them aside and saying, "Let us go back, rebuild and resume", rather than "you are broken, let's fix it".
"Retirement is such a dirty word in football, players avoid it like the plague."
"I think that all clubs in the football league – perhaps at a lower level – should have an independent counselor or mental health professional – not employed by the clubs, so that players feel they can talk without risk of being used I've heard from players who I talked to that they confided in their clubs and that this was later used against them. "
Sordell is now 28 and already begins to think about life after football – something precious that few players will consider, unless it means getting their coach badge and staying in football.
"I love to cook, so when I was younger, it was a serious route that I considered if football did not reveal itself as I wanted it. Most football players retire at age 35 and you start in the same place as someone who has just finished university – with the exception that they have a qualification and that they do not have a job. they are younger.
"Retirement is such a dirty word in football, pthe layers avoid it like the plague. I've had conversations with a lot of players and most of the time it's "I do not know, I have to play football as long as possible because I do not know what I'm going to do."
"More emphasis needs to be placed on education in football A lot of players leave school at age 14 or 15, and what chance does it give them later? Football may or may not work, you do not know it at this age and it is inevitable that you have a life beyond football The mentality around football has to change. "
Seven years later, he played for Burton Albion in Ligue 1, and seven years later, he already had several irons. "I am going to help the transition of the players and I have started a production company because I like to write and tell stories in different ways.
"Television, advertising, branding, music videos, I like being able to tell stories creatively, we just launched last week, we call ourselves 180 Productions.We are running a campaign with the charity CALM. , and potentially a documentary with BT Sport. "
State of Play, the next movie in BT Sport Films' award-winning series, will be screened on Wednesday, May 29 at 10:30 pm on BT Sport 2.
