Footy supports mental health
Playing or cheering, Australian rules footy helps anxiety and depression.
It comes, seemingly, out of nowhere. The racing heart. The clammy, trembling hands. The blurred vision. It can go just as quickly as it comes or linger for minutes, hours, days.
I know I’m not alone in my silent suffering with anxiety. One in five of Australians, including favourite Australian Football League (AFL) stars like Tom Boyd and Danny Frawley, also suffer quietly from anxiety and/or depression. Yet dealing with mental illness has been such a shameful topic for so long that those who have poor mental health feel they have to deal with it alone.
But you are never alone.
Exercising has always been considered as a way to improve mental health. Playing footy is no exception. The physical benefits of playing sport are well known: building stronger bones and muscles; managing weight; lowering cholesterol and blood pressure; and reducing risk of heart disease. According to an article on the Black Dog Institute’s website, 12 per cent of depression cases could be prevented by one hour of exercise per week. What isn’t as well-known, or understood, is how playing sport, particularly a team sport, can benefit mental health.
I find that going to the footy every week helps me. While I don’t play the game, going as a supporter and cheering for my team is my way to de-stress at the end of a busy week. Sitting in the member’s area at my club gives me a much-needed boost to my social life. Along with my mum, I have gone to watch the North Melbourne Kangaroos every week since I was a kid and this has been a long term stress relief for both of us. I feel like I am part of the team, donning the royal blue and white, and sitting with the same group of members for the past 13 years. They are my footy family. A separate section of the Shinboner spirit the club is known for. Their never say die, never back down attitude, is what keeps me fighting through my anxiety.
“Cheering for my team is my way to de-stress.”
Jade Mitchell is the Junior Administrator and Canteen Manager for the Tarneit Titans, and a mother of three. Two of her children, her son and eldest daughter, play for the Titans, a local footy club within the Western Region Football League (WRFL). Jade explains that two of her daughter’s team-mates applied for dispensation for the 2019 season to allow them to play in the under 15’s team so they could stay with their friends and team-mates. They applied because they suffer from anxiety and depression, and playing with the under 15’s girls helped them. “Each family outlined their own personal story, in terms of their child, giving details of their child’s background, and the importance of football and mateship within this particular team, ” Jade said. However, both were rejected on a technicality: they were only just outside the required age bracket. “It really pissed me off considering the AFL is so keen to focus campaigns on mental health in footy,” Jade said.
The club had to follow the rules of the October 2018 National Age Dispensation Policy. Reading over the copy Jade provided me, under the ‘Purpose’ section in the very beginning, it states ‘Nothing in this Policy should be read as limiting the types of adjustments that might be considered to accommodate this access.’ Yet the WRFL’s expectation was for these girls to move up to the under 18 age group. The Tarneit Titans do not currently have an under 18’s women’s team. The girls had only played one season with the Titans and didn’t want to move clubs to be able to play.
After asking if the girls did go on to play in the 2019 season, Jade informed me that they didn’t. Unfortunately, the Titans couldn’t field an older team for them to slot into, and neither girl wanted to leave the club and play without their mates. One of the girls found a part-time job at a local McDonalds, while the other took up umpiring. “They trained with the team for a little bit but this made their health issues worsen when the season started, with the realisation that they couldn’t play,” Jade said.
It’s only been in the last few years that the AFL has started to put any focus on the mental health of its players after a growing number spoke out about their own struggles. Even more so since North Melbourne footballer, Majak Daw fell from the Bolte Bridge late in December 2018. Following beloved AFL star and commentator Danny ‘Spud’ Frawley’s passing in September 2019, from a single-car crash, Tom Boyd spoke of his struggle with mental health, one of the many reasons for his retirement.
My heart broke, along with many other footy fans, with the breaking news of Danny Frawley’s passing. I grew up listening to him call games on Fox footy and being part of The Saturday Rub team on Triple M. Hearing that he stopped taking his medication for depression, months before he had crashed his car, made me take a step back and ask those I love if they were okay.
Months before he died, Frawley recorded a video ad campaign for the One In Five charity, asking for more research and awareness for mental illnesses. The charity considered pulling Frawley from the campaign and I can only assume this would have been out of respect for his wife and three daughters. However, after speaking to his family, they decided against this and the ad was aired in October 2019 for World Mental Health day.
Tom Boyd called quits on his playing career in the early stages of the 2019 season, due to his mental health issues. The 23-year-old only played six seasons before retiring from the game, including the 2016 season where he helped the Western Bulldogs win the premiership.
The AFL now has put in place the Mental Health Framework. The plan entails every club employ psychologists and counsellors. AFL board members have also established a new role, Mental Health Officer, within their head office. The Tarneit Titans appoint a community liaison officer every year. They have training in mental health issues for teens who suffer from them. They then refer those teens to other services as required.
Since being apart of the Tarneit Titans family, Jade has seen a significant difference in not only herself but her husband too. Due to ill health, he hasn’t been able to work and had started to suffer from mental illness. However, during the awards presentation at the end of the season, he won a WRFL Unsung Hero award for his efforts with the club and league. “I believe it was the need for tasks to be done within the club, and the need for volunteers, that aided hugely in his sense of belonging and grounded him again,” Jade said. From knowing the Mitchell family personally, I know that if there is something to be done and he could help, Jade’s husband would be the first to put his hand up. So it doesn’t surprise me that he won such an award from the WRFL.
During the AFLW (Australian Football League Women’s) draft, original marquee recruit for Collingwood in 2016, and North Melbourne player for the 2019 season, Moana Hope, withdrew her name from the list of players. I follow Moana Hope on Instagram and loved watching her play for the North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos during the women’s season at the beginning of 2019. When I saw her post the morning of the draft, announcing her decision to take a step back from the game, I couldn’t help but applaud her. Everything you read and see about Hope is that her sister Livinia (Vinny), wife Isabella Carlstrom, and footy are her life. In her post on Instagram, Hope states that she wants to be there for her family, particularly her sister and mum, which is one reason why she is taking a break from footy. She also mentions that the last few seasons of the AFLW have taken their toll on her mentally. She promised she will get herself right both mentally and physically, and aims to “pull on the boots in VFL 2020 and hopefully if all goes well I’ll be back out in an AFLW jumper soon after.”
Life gets busy and overwhelming and for some, like myself, to a point where it can be hard to function. But with a strong support network, like you can get within a footy club, even if the people don’t really know it, it can help pull you out of the darkness. We are not alone, and we never will be.
Please if you are struggling, reach out to someone you trust, or contact support services like Beyond Blue, Headspace, Lifeline and Kids Helpline.
