“I had depression, anxiety, trauma … leaving Fulham almost killed me”

Max Noble is not a name that will be recognized at first glance. Soccer left him before he was 20. Before that, he played in the Fulham youth academy and in the lower ranks of the Welsh national team. Then he wanted to commit suicide. After an injury and childhood trauma, Noble has spent more than 10 years trying to give a voice to all those young people who do not end up making their dream of playing football professionally come true: 98% of boys between 16 and 18 years old who receive their first contract are terminated or out of the football when they turn 21. So what happens to those 98% of people? “All I want is for this to change. You can't promise them the world and then ignore them when they have depression. The quarrying system is failing, you can see the numbers, it is failing, “Noble acknowledges in an interview with inews.

In Noble's case, soccer failed him when he had a growth problem in his knee and he couldn't have surgery until he was 18 years old. At that age, and one year after his contract as a Fulham youth expired, the club informed him that it would not pay for the operation … because he was not going to renew: “I had to pay for my own surgery and recovery. And I didn't get a call about how I was doing. I had no psychological help. No post-operative help. He had no job opportunities, no courses. It was three days before my 19th birthday. “

“I had depression, anxiety, trauma … It almost killed me. I was very repressed. I became a recluse, I didn't want to talk to my friends. I wasn't that close to my friends from school because they went out, went to the movies or to drink and parties, but I couldn't. I would go to sleep at ten at night because I had training at eight, those things they tell you. He had no life outside of football. My identity is gone, I was completely embarrassed“.

In addition, Noble also criticizes the agent system in the world of football. Footballers are not allowed to sign with an agent until they are 16 years old. A little earlier, a Fulham worker told him that he could not have an agent, but if he did, it should be one who recommended the club. At that age, Noble already had enough agency proposals: “I didn't think it could be true. But for the next eight weeks I didn't touch a ball. They didn't let me train, I couldn't play. “

“When there is a sport that moves so much money, there can be no way that it is not known what happened to these guys when they are terminated. There is no such thing and it is not acceptable. There is no call, how are you doing, we have got you a course or an internship here. I want the Federation to admit that this is happening and to do something, “he says.