A man who has played for 18 football clubs, spoken out on match fixing and was once accused of once stealing Thierry Henry’s mobile phone, is now playing esports for Wolves.
33-year-old Rohan Ricketts, who made two appearances for Arsenal between 2001 and 2002, before moving to Spurs (boo) and a number of other clubs, is representing Wolverhampton Wanderers in FIFA in the new Celtic Esports League.
This tournament got underway this month and features esports players from football clubs including Crusaders FC, Dundalk FC, Hamilton Academical FC, Hibernian FC, Linfield FC, Shamrock Rovers FC, TNS FC as well as Wolves.
A community cup began earlier this month, with a full league to follow in 2017.
Ricketts has had an interesting and incredibly diverse football career to say the least, with stints at the likes of Barnsley, Wolves, Toronto FC, Shamrock Rovers and now low-tier Leatherhead, is an unlikely esports pro.
In the past, he denied bizarre rumours that claimed he stole from fellow players in the Arsenal dressing room.
He previously told The Sun: “When I am on Twitter, people say ‘you’re a thief, you nicked Thierry Henry’s phone’ or ‘you nicked Dennis Bergkamp’s phone’.
“We were involved in a situation at Arsenal. A phone had disappeared but later
turned up and it became public.
“My departure was used as the reason. But I was on 700 quid a week so why
would I steal a phone — and also from a team-mate? I now get a lot of stick
but that’s fine. I left Arsenal because I knew I would not get in the team.”
He’s also spoken openly about being exposed to match fixing, racism and heavy drinking in the past.
Wolves’ official post on Ricketts playing for them can be found here.
Geoff Wilson from the Celtic eSports League said: “eSports is growing at a phenomenal rate worldwide. The Sportego Celtic eSports League is an exciting new concept and we hope to attract new fans for not only the league but all the clubs involved.”
More info can be found on the Celtic Esports League’s website.
Image source: Wikipedia/Samioglu
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
