David Cox video: Full transcript as Albion Rovers forward quits football after alleged suicide taunts mid-game

Albion Rovers forward David Cox last night announced he was quitting football, amid claims he was allegedly taunted about his mental health following a verbal altercation with opponent Jonathan Tiffoney during a match against Stenhousemuir.
A screenshot from the video David Cox posted in the aftermath of the alleged incidentA screenshot from the video David Cox posted in the aftermath of the alleged incident
A screenshot from the video David Cox posted in the aftermath of the alleged incident

The 32-year-old published a six-minute video on Facebook in the aftermath of his decision to leave the stadium and walk away from the sport following the incident during the first half of the League Two match.

Below is a transcript of his comments.

"Again, having to deal with some mental health shouts at football. Currently, the second half is just starting; Albion Rovers and Stenhousemuir, and I have left the stadium.

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"I wasn’t playing tonight, I was on the bench, and one of the boys on the Stenny team was having a wee to-and-fro with the bench and he had a go at my mental health.

"He told me I should have done it right the first time. I’d promised myself that the next time it happened, I’d walk off the park. Obviously I wasn’t playing, but I am done with football, completely.

"Some folk might not think it’s a big deal; I’m f***ing fed up listening to it. I don’t get paid enough for it and if I’d been on the park I probably would have broken the boy’s legs, deliberately.

"I tried to speak to the referees about it. They didn’t want to know because they didn’t hear it. It’s the same s**t we talk about all the time. We talk about racism, personal issues, and because it’s not heard by officials there’s nothing they can do about it, so I’m going to do something about it.

"For me, it’s leaving the game. I’m done with it. One of the reasons I wasn’t going to go back to football and I did at the end of January and now I’m just f***ing done with it.

"If I keep playing I’m going to batter somebody on the park, which is not good because it’ll result in me being the bad one.

"Nothing’s going to get done about it, probably. It’ll come down to the whole, ‘he said this, I said that’ and ‘I didn’t say this, who heard me saying it, prove it’.

“It’s happening with racism, it’s happening with this. Nothing gets done about it, nothing’s going to get done about it, and it’s going to conitnue to happen.

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"So I’m done. Hanging the boots up for good. I’ve just walked away there, middle of the game. I’m not doing it.

"It’s bad enough hearing it from fans but when you hear it from folk on the park, and other players… I’m not an angel; I say stuff to folk, and we smash each other in tackles but we get up and get on with it. I can deal with that.

"But I would never mock somebody for trying to kill themselves, and telling them they should have done it right the first time.

"Am I walking away because of me, because I’m upset? No. These things are going to keep happening and I promised myself that I would walk off the pitch the next time it happened.

"I wasn’t playing, but the boys said if they had heard it they would have walked off the park with me, just to make a statement, because it happens too much.

"Nobody is doing anything about it. If I had been on the park, I probably would have hit the boy and I wouldn’t have stopped hitting him, but that would have just resulted in me being the bad one and getting done for it.

"I’m getting a bit emotional now about it: I’m f***ing really, really angry. I feel like I'm ranting here, but I’m done. One hundred per cent done.

"But something needs to be done about these folk.

"They are doing it now in ways where they are not directly saying it, or they are saying things like, ‘you should have done it right the first time’ and so nobody can hear them.

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"I don’t get paid enough for it, it’s not worth it for me, so I’m done. I’m out.”

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