The Toll Sports Take on Mental Health

We, as sports fans don’t often realise just how seriously the players take themselves.

For us, sports are an escape. It’s a cause for us to get behind, because we love the game.

But for some of the players, their motivations stem from the opposite end of the spectrum.

They play because it’s their livelihoods. Many players join professional clubs straight out of high school.

We see it every year in the AFL, where the majority of players who are selected in the annual AFL Draft are 18 years old.

Many are then required to move away from their hometowns and families for an unknown period of time, without much if any prior notice.

As fans, we don’t truly understand how surreal that must be.

Imagine one day, you have to leave everything you know and love behind for a new job with people you’ve never met before, in a town you have never been to before.

It would be quite daunting.

Then, there are some who don’t even finish year 12 prior to starting their professional sporting careers.

For example, Richmond Football Club’s Jack Higgins decided against going through year 12 at school in his bid to become a professional player.

Higgins recently underwent brain surgery to repair a brain bleed and is on the road to recovery and hopefully, he’ll return to the field in 2020.

But so far, his career has been a success, establishing himself as a regular member of the Richmond seniors side. In time, he’ll become a seriously good player.

But let’s take a moment to think about what would happen if, for whatever reason, his career didn’t work out.

He has no VCE education and no university degree.

It would mean he’d have to go back to school or to university and almost start from scratch.

With that in mind, the pressure to consistently perform would be palpable. Completely unenviable.

One too many mistakes could be the end and for some, they would not know where to go. That kind of mammoth pressure would take its toll.

These players give their all to the sports they play. They live and breathe it. It’s their way of life. It’s their job.

When you’re at work, there’s always pressure to perform and get your duties done. You feel awful when you don’t do your job properly, knowing that there could be consequences.

When these players dip in form or succumb to injuries, they feel they are unable to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

And that can seriously impact upon their confidence.

We’ve seen players take breaks away from sports to focus on restoring their mental health, which is both nice to see and also devastating.

We want to see them strutting their stuff at the highest level, but we also hope that, above all else, they stay healthy in both a physical and mental way.

In recent times, Victorian cricketers Nic Maddinson, Will Pucovski and Glenn Maxwell have taken breaks away from the sport to look after themselves.

Maddinson and Maxwell have both represented Australia at different forms of the game, while Pucovski has been touted as one of the highest potential players in the country.

But that is partly why they are taking these breaks.

They know what level they can play at or what level they will play at in the near future.

But under that pressure, combined with the minority of people on social media who lack any form of empathy, they lack the self-confidence they need to be able to play to the best of their abilities.

Speaking of social media, it can be a brutal place at times.

When players don’t perform at the standard they feel are required, some people are very quick to blast them from the safety of their keyboards.

They say these things without any thought to how a player is feeling off the field or how they may respond to those comments, whether that’s verbal or not.

A great soccer example is that of former Arsenal club captain Granit Xhaka.

Ever since his arrival at the club from German club Borussia Mochengladbach, the Swiss international has faced criticism from fans for what they see as a lack of ability to ‘make it in the Premier League’.

Those fans became irate when he was named club captain ahead of the 2019/2020 Premier League season.

His performances were still viewed upon as poor and many fans felt those on the substitutes bench would do a better job.

This all came to a head during Arsenal’s 2-2 draw at home to Crystal Palace on October 28.

Xhaka was substituted out in the 60th minute and the fans were quick to let him know how they felt.

He then told the fans where to stick it and quickly went down the race. He is yet to return to first team football nearly a month on from the incident. There are even rumours he may leave the club in the January transfer window.

Clearly, the Arsenal fans had struck a chord with Xhaka, forcing a reaction out of him that was extremely uncharacteristic.

Who knows how much of an impact this has had on him and his mental health?

Imagine a large contingent of people began berating and badmouthing you online because you were underperforming at your workplace.

You never know how a player is feeling deep down. You can make assumptions, but you never truly know.

Mental health a serious issue and way too many lives have been lost to it.

During times like these, when so many people need help for issues they can’t resolve on their own, we need to come together.

 

 

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British Football’s Longest Partnership: Tom Banks Explores the Influential Collaboration Between Kindred Group and Rangers FC

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Image provided by Kindred Group

Back in September, Rangers FC confirmed they had extended their partnership with Kindred Group establishing this special alliance as the longest-standing of its kind in British football for its tenth season now.

Kindred Group, an online gambling company, have invested their time providing help in the local community, with initiatives such as ‘Team Talk’, which the Rangers Charity Foundation team run.

Most gambling operators put their logos on jerseys or have it around the grounds and consider it a success, Kindred is not the average gambling company as they wanted to make sure there was a wider piece of work going on.

During an extensive conversation with Soccerscene, Group Head of Corporate Affairs at Kindred Group, Tom Banks, spoke in-depth to Alex Bagdasarian about the relationship between the two parties, the work done in the local community, men’s mental health, and much more.

Can you explain to us about the benefits of both parties and the relationship you two have over the last 10 years?

Tom Banks: We’ve had a very long relationship with them, it’s into its tenth season and we have seen them through ups and downs in terms of seeing them in European Cup finals and supported them through when they were relegated down to championship, promoted back to the Scottish Premiership, so it has been a rollercoaster of a journey, it has been really great.

Rangers FC, as lots of football fans will know are steeped in heritage and got a really special place in football not just in Scotland and the wider United Kingdom, but across Europe as well, it is a very well-known club and a well known brand. We have been proud to support them for the last 10 seasons and what has been really good is particularly the last few years we’ve worked hard across all of our sponsorships in football to create a new model of sponsorship that not only benefits the club in terms of our support from a club perspective, but also the communities and so every club that we sponsor now across the UK always has a community benefit angle to it, so in the example of Rangers for the last few years we have supported a great project called ‘Team Talk,’ which focuses on mental health and particularly men’s mental health.

It uses the football club as a sort of conversation starter for men who might not otherwise feel comfortable to open up about their mental health and so we have seen a huge support for that organisation and that program has grown significantly as a result of our funding and that’s really great and we have replicated that across other clubs that we support that focus on mental health.

We did our research a few years ago with a research agency that showed football clubs and men have a unique link and everybody knows it and if you can leverage that the right way to open up conversations about how you’re doing and your wider mental health then there is a real opportunity to get a conversation going and make improvements.

Image provided by Kindred Group.

Can you explain to us what work has been done in the local community?

Tom Banks: That’s predominantly through our support of the ‘Team Talk’ initiative which the Rangers Charity Foundation team run, that program runs once or twice a week, we funded it from a supporter perspective which has meant it can be open for longer, it can have more people turn up and it hosts more sessions, it has been great to see that program grow.

Quite a bit of it is individuals sharing with everyone having a shared passion of the club and so that is a nice entry point for people, and if they want to talk a bit about how they are doing more broadly they can, and there is staff who are trained on hand to have those conversations with them but they also do football sessions.

The club and foundation has seen a strong growth in terms of the numbers of people that have turned up to those sessions, as a result the support we have been able to provide that can advertise those sessions more widely.

Previously to the mental health project that we have supported The ‘Team Talk’ program, we have also sponsored resources for homeless charities in Glasgow, so we have done bits and pieces so that’s why over the last couple of years we have created more of a defined model of what our sponsorship looks like in terms of community benefit and l think we have started to see the benefits of that now in regards to a real increase and engagement with the community.

You mentioned the support of a men’s mental health initiative called ‘Team Talk’, explain to us in further detail and what it involves.

Tom Banks: The beauty of that program is that it is a real enabler for people to talk, with a dozen men attending the sessions every week and staff tracking how they are doing from when they first joined the program right the way through and we have seen a big improvement in the wellbeing of the participants.

It is not a medical program, it is reducing the barriers to talk about if they have any problems with their mental health, we have sponsored other clubs that have had similar projects and they are really powerful.

The research that we were provided in the last couple of years did show that men are statistically less likely to talk about any kind of mental health issues but they are statistically much more likely to be very passionate football fans and so there is a nice intersection to be able to use the football club and the sport to make them feel more comfortable to start talking and that’s really important which has been valuable for that project because initiatives such as ‘Team Talk’ have showed that the science behind what we thought we knew from the research is proving correct, it has been great to see it being developed over the last couple of years.

Is there a particular demographic that comes through the doors the most?

Tom Banks: It’s not exclusive to men but it’s focused predominantly on men, we expected it to be slightly older men, or who are on their own or who don’t have that many people around them in terms of support network but it has actually been quite diverse.

There is some quite younger people that come through the doors because mental health can affect anybody because it’s not like other types of diseases that affects over 65s or men of a certain weight.

Its been interesting to see the broad demographic split of men, it slightly leans older but overall it is diverse and l think that shows the fact that mental health doesn’t necessarily discriminate against any type of character.

Image provided by Kindred Group.

Kindreds approach to ‘Zero % Mission’, can you explain to us what it involves and the tools available for Rangers fans?

Tom Banks: The Zero % Mission is something we are really proud of and Kindred is the parent company and that has this overarching journey and an ambition the company has to reach zero % of its revenue derived from harmful gambling where people have had issues when they play and it is a small percentage of what we see which is around 2-3% from where our revenue comes from but the aim is to get that to 0%, we have seen good success on reducing that percentage over the last three or four years and so the Zero % Mission is almost our consumer facing campaign element of the journey to zero.

What it means and why we are proud of the work that we have done with Rangers but also other clubs is because we use the sort of advertising assets and the sponsorships assets like the front of shirts has Zero % Mission underneath and a lot of LED around the ground will refer to that.

We remain l think one of the only gambling operators that just doesn’t have their logo on the shirt but also has some form of safer gambling type of messaging and we think that is important to use our assets for good.

It has been good to use the Zero % Mission to open up the conversation on safer gambling with fans and punters more easily. I suppose it’s about insuring fans that are aware of the variety of tools that players have available when they gamble and actually we have seen a really good benefit of that and us talking more about that through the Zero % Mission.

In 2020, about 40% of our player base use a voluntary safe gambling tools so that’s factors such as a deposit limit or a loss limit, there is various tools that are available for players, much like on Netflix where it says ‘are you still watching?’, we have very similar things on our platforms to make sure individuals are aware and in control, but it’s actually up to about three quarters of our player base that have one now.

I think we have gotten a lot better as a sector and everything else from a Kindred perspective, using our sponsorships to really highlight and promote the use of these tools because for us it’s really important that our players on our platforms are doing it in a controlled way.

Lastly, is there any new initiatives planned between both parties in the extension of the partnership?

Tom Banks: We will be doing a range of interesting things from a content perspective so that will come throughout the year, what we will try to do is utilise some of the players and assets to think about how we can use our sponsorship creatively but the main thing is the ongoing support of Team Talk, we expect there will be further developments for that program over the course of the year as a result of the funding and it may be possible for them to expand the program in the next 12 months.

It is one for people to keep an eye on, we are really keen for the sponsorship to continue evolving but we’re just really excited to be part of it again for another season. I think it’s the longest running deal in British football and so that is a challenge as much as it is an area of pride because we have been going for a long time to keep it new and fresh for the fans is important.

We’re trying to challenge ourselves to make sure we think of new ways to innovate in terms of giving benefits to the club and the community but there is definitely exciting things on the horizon.

Shepparton Cup 2024: The largest junior football tournament goes from strength to strength

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The Shepparton Cup was conducted over the weekend, with the event being the largest weekend junior football tournament ever held in Australia.

The 3-day event was a huge overall success, with a record breaking 313 teams competing in the tournament across 21 divisions.

Matches were spread across 38 pitches at Mooroopna Recreation Reserve, Shepparton Sports City, Rumbalara and Wanganui Oval.

With around 4,000 players participating, 755 matches were played over the weekend – with finals matches concluding the event on Sunday.

“It was the biggest and smoothest tournament we’ve ever ran in our 17-year history,” Australian Football Skool (AFS) Director Rolando Navas told Soccerscene.

“There was of course really good football on show across the age groups and great sportsmanship, which was fantastic to see.

“I think the message is getting through about how important it is to provide a positive environment for kids to play sport in. It was pleasing to see everybody there, both players and parents/supporters, had a good time.”

Navas estimates that there were well over 12,500 people attending the event across both venues over the weekend, providing a giant boost to the local Shepparton area.

“You are talking about a wide range of people who are, at a minimum, staying in the city of Shepparton or close by for two nights,” he said.

“The economic impact was massive.”

Economic activity at Shepparton Cup – Image Credit: One Nil Media

Director for Sustainable Development at Greater Shepparton City Council, Geraldine Christou, further explained the greater benefits the tournament had on the local community.

“Australia’s largest junior weekend football tournament right here in Greater Shepparton showcases the strength of our community spirit and our capacity to host major events that bring joy, talent, and visitors to our region,” she stated.

“The economic benefit of this tournament is immense with an estimated $3 to $4 million generated for the region, supporting our local businesses and creating lasting memories for thousands of young athletes and their families.

The Greater Shepparton City Council’s Parks, Sport and Recreation team played a big hand in the organisation of the tournament, which included looking after the setup of pitches to the placement of goals at the venues.

Football Victoria CEO Chris Pehlivanis, who attended the tournament over the course of the weekend, was impressed with the execution of it.

“I’m proud of the whole tournament, it was an amazing opportunity to come down here to Shepparton and see lots of boys and girls playing football and playing lots of games,” he stated at the event.

“I think most kids had six, seven, eight games which is an amazing opportunity and not only that, there was amazing organisation.

“Everyone should be extremely proud of what they have achieved here this weekend…the logistics, everything was run smoothly…the referees were great and all the parents and participants were great.”

Kids at play during the Shepparton Cup – Image Credit: One Nil Media

The Shepparton Cup has continued to grow exponentially over the years, initially starting with just 30 teams in the inaugural tournament in 2007.

This year’s edition also featured a wide range of off the field activities that contributed to a carnival like atmosphere. There was live music, on stage entertainment, food trucks, a fun zone for players and families.

Navas detailed to Soccerscene that the enormity of the event was not lost on him and is investigating ways to make the competition better in the near future.

“(The growth of the event has been) overwhelming, compared to many of the previous years. It was the biggest by far this year and there was a great positivity around it.

“The plan is to not necessarily make it bigger in the future, just to tweak it and add more to it and make it a better experience for everyone.

“I’d love to be able to attract some more international teams, we are looking at that to see how we can get some of the Asian teams to come across to the event.

“This would be fantastic, as it would show the kids here how football is played in different parts of the world. The way we look at things is ‘if I was 10- or 12-years-old what would I want this tournament be?’

“That’s what drives a lot of our thinking and ultimately our initiatives. It’s important to us because if the kids have a good experience, they’re going to become better players and better people because of it.

“We’ve also received some really good information from the feedback surveys we put out, which is very beneficial in shaping the tournament suitably in future editions.”

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