Prince William says mental health and player welfare neglected by some clubs
Duke of Cambridge criticises "dereliction of duty" when players are dropped by their clubs without adequate support
Thursday 28 February 2019 15:34, UK
Prince William has called on football clubs to do more to improve the mental health of their players and says treating footballers as financial assets is "a dereliction of duty".
The Duke of Cambridge, who is President of the Football Association, warned that too many young players are being dropped without adequate support for their future.
Speaking at Windsor Park stadium during a visit to Northern Ireland, the Duke said: "Some of these [football] clubs don't do anything about mental health. They pick a player up, he plays football, 'no good', move on.
"If we've got to change anything, we've got to change the whole way we look after players.
"Many players come from difficult backgrounds and may have all sorts of issues going on.
"So just to have them as a complete financial asset, it's a dereliction of duty I think, having these players not given the key building blocks of support.
"We're working on something with the FA at the moment, trying potentially to get a mental health FA Cup to have a really punchy campaign we can base something around."
He also questioned whether a "win-win" mentality in children's sport, where youngsters are protected from the feeling of losing, would make it difficult for them to cope with similar situations when they get older.
"From a very young age, nobody wants to be told they're not good at something but of course that could prove a difficult situation to handle when life comes along with school and jobs and so on," he said.
"How do they learn to pick themselves back up again?
"When they lose a match, you're gutted. But that's part of what sport is all about. Every sportsman and woman knows what it takes to be at the top of their game."
