Former West Ham Player Had To Deal With Depression

Not long ago I wrote an article about the issues surrounding mental health in football. Admittedly this is a difficult subject to broach and not one that can be discussed in a light-hearted manner. Ironic really when you consider on this occasion that my initial article was going to be a tongue-in-cheek look at another different Joey, Mr Beauchamp. Tongue-in-cheek that is until I did further research on the player and his short, disastrous sojourn at West Ham.

 

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Now, as we know, Joey Beauchamp’s name goes into West Ham folklore for all the wrong reasons. As a lower league player, Beauchamp was attracting a lot of interest from higher-placed sides. For £1.2 million West Ham had signed an exciting left-sided attacking 23-year-old. The problem however was Beauchamp’s opposition to moving to East London, instead commuting daily from his Oxford base. Cutting the well-known story short, Beauchamp lasted 58 days at West Ham, making a handful of friendly performances before leaving to join a side much closer to home, Swindon.

Normally, this is where I’d have a dig or a joke at Joey, but with the benefit of referencing I thought better against it.

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Beauchamp of course was never going to be a player whom I checked to see the progression of his career. After he left, and the farce surrounding his arrival and subsequent departure, I stopped showing interest. So when I read about his battles with depression and mental health it put a few more things, though just as suggestion, into context. After suffering a career-ending injury, Beauchamp hit rock bottom. Quotes attributed to him in This Is Oxfordshire, show the plight and frailty of a man who may have been suffering before recognising his condition. “I gave up all hope, I had a beautiful wife and a newborn daughter, but nothing mattered to me. I was drinking all day, every day and hated what I was doing.”

 

Whereas these quotes are attributed to the player in the latter stages of his career, it shows someone who’s character may always have suffered from depression only brought on by sudden changes to lifestyle. When you consider that the ‘trigger’ to his depression, drinking and thoughts of suicide was the transition from professional footballer to nothing, what’s to say that the upheaval for a young player in a similar position wouldn’t have had the same effects? It’s a completely new chapter to the Beauchamp story and an unfortunate one at that. Yes, footballers are paid meteoric wages, have hero-worship and fame thrust upon them. However, if you are of a fragile disposition, no amount of wealth or recognition can ease stresses of upheaval and change.

Given the opportunity I know that 99% of us would love to be professional footballers and sympathy for Beauchamp has, historically, been very sparse, but whilst we dream of playing and being the hero, it’s also worth considering the flipped side of the coin and the pressure that accompanies it.

Keep well Joey! Peace out

Smudgy

@TheRobTaylor32

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