Hard man’s soft centre
DARREN Brown can’t bear to see one more footy player die by their own hand.
The former Penrith Panthers rugby league player is planning to walk the 830km from the Gold Coast to Sydney in October to raise awareness for suicide prevention but said it would barely scrape the surface of what needed to be done in the game.
“I’m just trying to do my bit. It’s such an issue,” said Mr Brown, who shares his time between Cronulla and the Gold Coast and now works as a stevedore.
“We all know kids who play the game and absolutely live and breathe rugby league.
“It’s important that they get support from a young age.
“There’s not enough awareness about (mental health) and they don’t do enough at the grassroots level. “They’re the future. “Their passion and love for the sport is what keeps the game going.
“We need to help them as much as possible,” he said.
It comes after the Bulletin last week revealed local rugby league clubs were still waiting on a visit from NRL welfare officers after the suicides of four players last year.
The club presidents said there was an urgent need for the NRL to employ a welfare officer on the Coast, with two in Brisbane and one on the Sunshine Coast.
After originally dismissing the reports as “inaccurate”, the NRL backtracked by saying it had only “offered” support and would send welfare officers to the Coast.
Mr Brown, 47, who retired in 1998, will be joined on the walk by fellow former firstgraders Gorden Tallis, Matthew Johns, Chris Hicks, Scott Pethybridge and exPenrith captain Craig Gower, who lost his younger brother Matt to suicide last week.
“That (Matt Gower’s death) was awful,” Mr Brown said. “It really hit home. “We’re men. “We bottle it up and don’t talk about what we’re going through.
“Really, from the age of 13 welfare education has got to start, otherwise for some it can be too late to bring them back.”
Former Gold Coast Titans chairman Paul Broughton said the NRL was evolving so fast it had failed to bring welfare education up to speed.
“Self-harm is becoming one of humankind’s biggest concerns and it defies any simple explanation,” Mr Broughton said.
“One would hope that not just rugby league but other professional sports consider the options as sport continues to demand more and more from its athletes.”
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