How injuries, gambling and a premature end to his career took its toll on Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald

RYAN ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald said he lost so much of his AFL earnings he could hardly pay his mortgage, forcing him to consider desperate measures. The former Crows and Swans player turned media personality reveals what made his life spiral downwards.

Fitzy takes on the Saints in 2000.

FORMER AFL player turned radio and media personality Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald says he gambled much of his football earnings away as he fell into a culture that encouraged the habit.

In a revealing interview on former Western Bulldog Robert Murphy’s new Fox Footy show Bob, the former Swan and Adelaide Crow said he hit rock bottom as injuries and financial difficulty hit.

He said he wasn’t a big gambler before the AFL environment lured him into it.

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Fitzy takes on the Saints in 2000.

Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald has come a long way from his playing days.

“Those four years that I had in the AFL, I punted a lot of my money up the wall,” Fitzgerald said.

“My old man was devastated by that, because he hates gambling.

“It was the environment. Back in those days, there was a lot of down time between training sessions and in the Swans, (the) majority of blokes would go down the pub and just have a punt.

“For me, it was you get to hang out with some of these senior blokes going ‘this is amazing’.”

Fitzgerald was traded from the Swans to the Crows and, after wrecking his knee for a second time, he was unceremoniously dumped and his career was over.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do, all I wanted to do was play 200 games and play for the next 10 years,” he said.

“(Sydney) traded me to Adelaide and I did my knee again.

“I knew as soon as I was coming off the ground I said ‘that’s it, I’m not going to get another contract’.

Fitzy with son Hewston in their Crows gear.

“So I rehabbed that last half of the year, waiting for that phone call from (former Adelaide coach Gary) Ayresy and (then-football manager) John Reid from Adelaide and I got it.

“I still remember John Reid said ‘Fitzy, mate, when we traded you in and got you over here, you were 10 to one to make it mate, and we really believed in ya. Now, with you’re body, you’re 150 to 1’.

“I got my wallet out, got out 10 bucks and I said ‘Reidy, I’ll put 10 bucks on myself because I reckon I can do it’ and he said, ‘nah … that’s it mate, we can’t go again’ and that was it. (I) got up, walked out, career over.

“I always thought that (football) was the only thing I was ever good at. Footy was everything in my life and then it’s over.”

It took a heavy toll.

“I left AFL with a mortgage, I had a house, I even got to the point where I pulled mum aside one day — it was full on — I said to mum ‘I’m struggling to pay the mortgage’,” he said.

“(I told mum) I’m going to get some of my mates just to start friggin’ growing weed for me, just to get by.

“Mum broke down and I remember I grabbed her hand and I was just shattered and I said I’m so sorry.”

Fitzy, circa 2004, on Big Brother with host Gretel Killeen.

Fitzy with his wife Belinda and sons Hewston, 4, and Lennox, five months.

But Fitzgerald said he turned his life around — with the help of a famous reality TV show.

“I felt like I needed to get justification for her (mum), I was desperate,” he said.

“I did my knee again when I went back to South Adelaide and I was half way through my rehab again, coming back from my third knee reco, and my mate said to me, ‘why don’t you try out for Big Brother, that reality show?’”

The rest is history, as Fitzgerald is now among the brightest personalities in show business.

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