It’s time to talk about mental health in sport.
This is going to be quite a personal article, and a topic I feel needs to be covered a lot more inspired by the news of Dele Alli’s heartbreaking and truthful interview with Gary Neville on the Sky TV show “The Overlap.”
Mental health is something I’ve been struggling with for a number of years, and something a lot of us are beginning to face in this new day and age and will be a prevalent issue for a long time to come. 1 in 4 people in the UK with experience some kind of mental health issue in the UK each year, with 1 in 6 being diagnosed with common mental health problems by professional doctors. These sort of problems can lead to thoughts of suicide, or attempts of it, who 1 in 15 people will experience in their lifetime. Being part of those 1 in 15, I felt at the time I had nowhere to go, even if I had supportive friends around me, I feel like there wasn’t much left for me. Being someone who encouraged people to talk about their own battles and not myself made me bottle up my own emotions, and I felt like no one would listen to my own problems. I’d always put other people first over me, including a few close mates who wanted to check up on me, and that wasn’t healthy.
However, for some of us, including me, we found escape in sport. There’s some sort of a feeling which some of us feel when watching or playing certain sports, some of which people can’t explain, but which people both on the terraces and on the pitch cherish dearly. Watching Watford and being a general football fan for most of my life allowed me to go to a football game, and just feel at ease with myself. My old man always says to me that “the terraces are somewhere where you can just go and forget about all of your problems for 90 minutes” and he was right. I didn’t find peace in therapy or counselling or anything like that, for me I found football, and it’s helped to change my life completely, and for the better. I’ve understood now that sport is something that will always stay constant, and for a lot of people it will outlast many things that change, favorite foods, relationships, friendships, they will all change. Sport doesn’t, that’s what so good about it.
However, it’s not all about me, there’s a bigger picture in sport and they are the athletes who entertain us every Saturday at 3pm when they get the ball rolling or every Sunday at 2pm where it’s lights out and away we go. There are many many athletes who will suffer like common people, and we have to acknowledge the fact they can have lives amongst the social media backlash of a bad performance. Dele Alli’s life has been different, and I am extremely proud of him for opening up to the public on what’s happened in his life. It takes for many people, massive relief and weight off their shoulders, and being a media figure like that it must be a huge benefit for him. In summary:
- Dele faced many issues with his original parents who were alcoholics, he was also sexually abused by his mothers friend just aged 6.
- Dele faced a major addiction to sleeping pills due to his poor performances on the pitch weighing him down
- Dele had thoughts of retiring early due to his own mental bringing his career downhill
It takes courage to admit that, and to admit that publically takes cojones. Dele’s rise to the top was magical and I wish him all the best in putting his life together, and hopefully seeing him back in his prime another day with moments like this:
In other sports, there are also many ways people are helping out other fans of the sport in their tussle with the black dog. Lando Norris has also come out with his documents of his own struggles during his rookie Formula 1 season in 2019.
“So I did suffer a lot in the beginning of the season just with a bit of everything — I don’t know what exactly but just everything combined, I struggled mentally because of that.”
“But no matter what everyone says, it’s still real life, I still need to perform, I need to do this, I need to do that. No matter how many times someone says ‘you’ll be fine, you’re going to do it’, there’s still self-belief and doubts that I have for myself.”
Because of this, during the 2021 season, the McLaren team along with himself and teammate at the time Daniel Ricciardo worked with the mental health charity Mind in a bid to get people to speak up. He also wore a special commemorative helmet for the 2021 British Grand Prix which he auctioned off to the charity “Our Frontline” which provides mental health support for frontline workers. All proceeds went towards the charity, raising upwards of a six figure sum.
Lando has also become the official mental health pioneer for Formula 1, and wants to do the same for many people in the future.
“I think, first of all, I’m very happy to see more and more people speaking out about it. And realizing it’s only going to benefit them and benefit others; I don’t think there’s any negatives, really, from doing so: it’s only going to help you get better and it’s only going to help if you have a big following, if you have a lot of people watching or whatever it is, you’re only going to help people who are also struggling.”
I myself look up to Lando for his driving ability and his mental health work, and I hope to see more in the future from him and other drivers.
There are also many other people who look to promote this in sport, and I salute them for their hard work and saving and changing the lives of many a person in recent years. Although it still remains a threat to people, I’m proud to say so many people within this industry want to change that.
For anyone who struggles with these sort of issues themselves, there are hotlines here which I strongly suggest taking a look at.
- Samaritans. To talk about anything that is upsetting you, you can contact Samaritans 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can call 116 123 (free from any phone), email jo@samaritans.org or visit some branches in person. You can also call the Samaritans Welsh Language Line on 0808 164 0123 (7pm–11pm every day).
- SANEline. If you’re experiencing a mental health problem or supporting someone else, you can call SANEline on 0300 304 7000 (4.30pm–10.30pm every day).
- National Suicide Prevention Helpline UK. Offers a supportive listening service to anyone with thoughts of suicide. You can call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline UK on 0800 689 5652 (6pm to midnight every day).
- Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). You can call the CALM on 0800 58 58 58 (5pm–midnight every day) if you are struggling and need to talk. Or if you prefer not to speak on the phone, you could try the CALM webchat service.
- Shout. If you would prefer not to talk but want some mental health support, you could text SHOUT to 85258. Shout offers a confidential 24/7 text service providing support if you are in crisis and need immediate help.
- The Mix. If you’re under 25, you can call The Mix on 0808 808 4994 (3pm–midnight every day), request support by email using this form on The Mix website or use their crisis text messenger service.
- Papyrus HOPELINEUK. If you’re under 35 and struggling with suicidal feelings, or concerned about a young person who might be struggling, you can call Papyrus HOPELINEUK on 0800 068 4141 (weekdays 10am-10pm, weekends 2pm-10pm and bank holidays 2pm–10pm), email pat@papyrus-uk.org or text 07786 209 697.
- Nightline for students who’s universities may offer phone numbers.
- Switchboard on 0300 330 0630 or email chris@switchboard.lgbt for LGBT+ mental health issues.
- C.A.L.L on 0800 132 737 or you can text ‘help’ followed by a question to 81066. (Wales only)
Written by: WFCHenry
medium.com/@wfchenry
twitter.com/@WFCHenry
