HOME TRUTHS
How football families cope with the real risks involved in rugby league
IT’S a preseason game and the result doesn’t matter but Ben and Cindy Ridge are sitting in the dressing rooms of Clive Berghofer Stadium in Toowoomba with tears streaming down their faces.
Ben, the hard-hitting Gold Coast Titans forward, had just had his season crushed before it had even started by a torn pectoral muscle.
Three months of gut-busting training went down the drain in one innocuous tackle.
This is the emotional side of rugby league, a sport that has been rocked by a number of serious injuries recently.
Late last month, 25-yearold Sunshine Coast Falcons forward James Ackerman, a father of two, died after being injured during an Intrust Super Cup game.
The cause of Ackerman’s death is yet to be released but it was a crushing blow for a game reeling from tragedy.
Three league players have died in the past year following on-field injuries, while Alex McKinnon’s career-ending injury was an unprecedented incident for the NRL.
Ridge is regarded as one of the Titans’ most feared defenders but just getting on the field has been his biggest challenge.
Now 25, he suffered what was a potentially career-ending ankle injury in 2009 that required four surgeries.
He has learned to cope with the physical toll the game’s taken on his body but it’s the emotional stress that is toughest to deal with.
“It’s more emotional than physical for me,” he said.
“You’re trying to get your head in the right place and be as positive as you can.
“I was the most excited I’ve ever been to play footy again so to only last 15 minutes in our first trial was a fair blow. “It was extremely tough.” For pregnant wife Cindy, watching Ben on the field brings a roller-coaster of emotions.
He was knocked out cold during a game last year and hearing a packed Cbus Super Stadium go silent was a moment she’ll never forget.
“That was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever witnessed,” she said.
“I knew he was OK but when you see your loved one out there, knocked out, you feel very unsure.
“I just wanted to run out, look at him and see him respond. That was very tough.”
Luke Douglas is one player who’s been able to avoid serious injuries throughout his career.
The Titans prop holds the NRL record for the most consecutive games played (215) and has never missed one through injury.
For his wife, Adele, watching Douglas run on to the field brings excitement but she admits you can’t ignore the tragedies the game has felt.
“It’s (Ackerman’s death) scary because it happened but there are risks with doing any- thing,” she said. “It’s a pretty rough sport.
“I wouldn’t say I get worried or scared. It’s more nervous and excited.
“Luke doesn’t get worried or scared so there’s no reason I should be.
“There’s no point in having a negative mind frame when you’re watching them play.”
Retired Titan Luke Bailey endured some tough injuries during his career.
The father of three thought he was bulletproof throughout his 15 NRL seasons before wife Rebecca delivered him a dose of reality.
“My mum would never watch a live game of footy. She would always wait until I called her and said I was OK and then she’d watch a replay,” he said.
“My missus got used to the injuries early on because we were together through high school but when I had the disc replacement she made me realise it was serious.
“That was a wake-up call for me. I had 12-13 operations but it wasn’t until then that I got a bit nervous.
“I popped my ribs off my sternum and got sent to the hospital and the doctor said ‘the ribs could pop his heart and die’. She was in the corner and nearly had a heart attack.”
No player ever expects to suffer a potentially fatal injury but the alarming realisation is that is a possibility in the sport.
Still, it’s not a mindset the players of their loved ones can carry.
“Because it’s so rare you don’t find yourself worrying about it,” Cindy said.
“That’s why when things like this (Ackerman) happen it shocks people so much. You don’t expect it.
“If I went into every game fearing like that I’d send myself crazy. You can’t do it to yourself.”
But there’s a reason Ben, and thousands of others, play the game.
“You play the sport because you love it,” he said.
“It’s always a risk but that’s life.”
Mum would never watch a live game of
footy. LUKE BAILEY