{"id":298459,"date":"2023-11-23T10:24:41","date_gmt":"2023-11-23T10:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=298459"},"modified":"2023-11-23T10:24:41","modified_gmt":"2023-11-23T10:24:41","slug":"former-premier-league-defender-greg-halford-reveals-autism-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/former-premier-league-defender-greg-halford-reveals-autism-diagnosis\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Premier League defender Greg Halford reveals autism diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Former Premier League footballer reveals he&#8217;s been diagnosed with autism at 38, as he fights back tears while admitting &#8216;I didn&#8217;t want to be around people after training&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><b>The 38-year-old found out he had the disorder after his son was also diagnosed<\/b><\/li>\n<li>During his career he made over 500 club appearances and played for 17 teams<\/li>\n<li><strong>Everton players will be fed up with the owners \u2013 listen to It&#8217;s All Kicking Off<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Former Premier League defender Greg Halford has bravely opened up about his autism diagnosis.<\/p>\n<p>The 38-year-old joined Sunderland from Reading in 2007, making just nine appearances, before he was loaned out and then sold to Wolves in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>He would later find out that he was on the autism spectrum after his son was born and he was diagnosed with the disorder.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the\u00a0Undr The Cosh podcast, Halford shed light on the difficulties of trying to settle in while playing for the Black Cats.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I haven&#8217;t told anyone this in the football world or anything but I&#8217;m on the spectrum of autism,&#8217; he said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/23\/09\/78150867-12783345-image-a-3_1700730918938.jpg\" height=\"356\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Former Premier League defender Greg Halford has opened up about his autism diagnosis<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/23\/09\/78150865-12783345-image-a-2_1700730917575.jpg\" height=\"1033\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The 38-year-old joined Sunderland from Reading in 2007 but made only nine appearances<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;So, change, and not knowing at that time, fitting into a new group of people and changing, the way I live, where I live, being away from my family, my girlfriend at the time. I found it very, very hard.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It was hard to interact with people. After training, I never wanted to go into the cafeteria because I didn&#8217;t want to be around. I felt awkward. It was just a weird sensation so I would just go home.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Being on the pitch is completely different, that&#8217;s my area, I can control myself there.\u00a0 But when it&#8217;s small intimate groups, I found it very difficult at that sort of time.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>During his career, the former England youth international made over 500 club appearances, playing in the Premier League, Football League and also in Scotland and Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>Playing for 17 different clubs in his career, he added that these new experiences helped him with his condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Halford now plays for non-league side Hashtag United, having joined the club last summer.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/23\/09\/78150861-12783345-image-a-1_1700730915714.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>He was loaned out twice by the Black Cats before he was sold shortly after to Wolves in 2009<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12783345\/Former-Premier-League-defender-Greg-Halford-fights-tears-reveals-autism-diagnosis.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Premier League footballer reveals he&#8217;s been diagnosed with autism at 38, as he fights back tears while admitting &#8216;I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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