I AM WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR!
Dobbin determined to tackle the taboos — and eradicate embarrassment when it comes to talking about period problems If Danny hadn’t talked about his mental health in the media, I don’t think I would have spoken about mine
BETH DOBBIN’S sense of affinity to England footballer Danny Rose extends beyond the fact they attended the same school and share the pursuit of sporting excellence.
Dobbin sees Rose as a trailblazer, his decision to open up about his depression early last year following injury, his uncle’s suicide and the racial abuse of his mother convincing her to go public about being diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder linked to an epilepsy attack as a teenager that left her unable to walk or talk and believing she would die.
The Scottish international sprinter grew up on the same Doncaster streets as Rose. His younger brother Mitchell was in her year.
Witnessing how their community responded to the Tottenham defender unleashing his demons gave her the confidence to follow his example.
Rose confronted a particularly male taboo head-on and opened a conversation on mental health in sport that has made huge strides since. Dobbin is now ready to add her voice to blowing apart a particularly female one — periods.
Eilish McColgan, fellow Scot and Great Britain team-mate for the World Athletics Championships in Doha which begin later this week, spoke recently about the need for greater discussion on the effects of the menstrual cycle in sport.
English 3,000metres steeplechaser Rosie Clarke even brought it up on the BBC after winning the British title recently, her season having been turned upside-down by the hormonal contraceptive she was using to regulate her period having been made unavailable in the UK.
Dobbin had her own issues at the British Championships, too. Only just back from a knee injury after chipping a bone in her neck earlier in the season, she began bleeding and feeling light-headed less than 48 hours before the 200m event that would decide her hopes of going to the worlds — with the only solution offered being a selection of drugs she is unwilling to take.
There remains a shortage of conclusive research on the effects of menstruation on performance. Using pills or injections to control it seems a case of trial and error with a similar lack of data on the effects of those drugs a clear issue.
Raising concerns with male coaches and doctors isn’t always easy.
Female athletes talk about it among themselves, for sure, but no one else does.
It remains a cultural no-no, something best kept away from polite society, and Dobbin sees that as a disservice to women as a whole.
‘I think it is similar to the whole issue of mental health in sport,’ said the 25-year-old. ‘The first male sportsperson I saw speaking about that in real detail was Danny Rose and I thought: “God, that’s brave”.
‘Danny went to my sixth-form, Danum School Technology College, in Doncaster. It was quite brutal there from the point of view that you got the mickey taken out of you for anything.
‘I remember thinking there was going to be a lot of backlash when Danny spoke, but that didn’t happen. Everyone from school took to Facebook and Twitter and was so encouraging.
‘If Danny hadn’t talked about his mental health in the media, I don’t think I would have spoken about mine. I still wonder sometimes if it has changed perceptions of me. People don’t always understand.
‘I can see from the positive reaction I received, though, that times have changed.
‘I just hope that, in two or three years’ time, the issue of periods can be talked about and looked into properly without people passing comments about ‘too much information’.
‘We need to be beyond that. It is ridiculous. It is just another natural thing that happens to the body, but women still feel embarrassed about it.
‘I speak to doctors in confidence, but I still don’t think I would feel comfortable in putting it down to my period if I had a bad race. I’d feel more comfortable just saying that I had a niggle and that does need to change.
‘This affects half of the population and can be really brutal for women who struggle with it.’
There have, of course, been past attempts to bring the issue into the public domain. Long jumper Jazmin Sawyers admitted period pain had caused her to withdraw from an event in Boston in 2017.
It also attracted attention at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow when 800m runner Jess Judd, who states her menstrual cycle ‘can be the difference between finishing first and last’, was given norethisterone to suppress her period and tumbled out in tears in the heats.
‘There are horror stories out there about people who have taken drugs to suppress their period. It is a really tricky one,’ said Dobbin.
‘Every period can be different. Sometimes, it comes and you can barely stand up because of the cramps. Other times, you have a bit of discomfort, but not much at all.
‘It is hard to manage, but the effects of the things they suggest you take to control them really have to be looked into properly.
‘Female athletes aren’t going to take things which haven’t been subjected to proper research on whether or not they are going to affect your performance or not.
‘Contraceptive pills can also open a whole new barrel of issues because they can make you put on weight, cause mood swings. There are so many different variations of the pill as well.
‘I don’t like the thought of having extra hormones in my body, but I think that is because I was on a lot of medication to deal with my epileptic seizures in the past and I am very careful.
‘If something takes just one per cent of your power away, that’s huge — especially in sprinting.
‘I just take an approach of biting the bullet, praying that it doesn’t come on race day and taking it from there. It is hard to speak about, though, because you know there is going to be a backlash.
‘Some women do lose a lot of blood and you have to try to go out and perform to the best of your ability regardless. You think about taking something to stop it, but you don’t know how that tablet is going to affect you.
‘In 2018, my big races were always just after my period and I got lucky. But this year, on the Friday before the trials, I came on my period and felt light-headed on the Saturday.
‘I spoke to the British Athletics doctor about my options. I prefer to try natural options and I might have gone for some kind of iron booster, but the things offered to me were all drugs with long names and I just don’t want to risk that the day before trials.
‘I just found myself feeling I’d lost a lot of blood, had no energy and there was nothing I could do about it.’
Of course, part of the problem is that different women have entirely different experiences.
In addition to the testimonies of Sawyers and Judd, tennis player Anne Keothavong tore cruciate ligaments twice while
menstruating, with Arsenal footballer Jordan Nobbs, aware of how oestrogen increases the elasticity of joints, now demanding in-depth research after damaging her knee.
Yet, Paula Radcliffe was at the start of her period when breaking the world record in the 2002 Chicago Marathon and felt it was not much of a hindrance.
‘You may have to run through pain, but pushing through pain is what being an athlete is about. I find I can get over that,’ said Dobbin, daughter of former Celtic and Burnley footballer Jim Dobbin.
‘You also have the worry on race-day of having to go to the toilet to sort yourself out and, in athletics, you are not covered up well. It is at the back of your mind a lot.
‘One of the first things I do when I am looking at competitions is see whether they fit in around my period. It’s crazy and the worst thing is that you don’t really tell anyone you are doing it.
‘I think it has to be tackled more from a young age. If you are comfortable about talking about it then, that is set in stone for the future.
‘I got into athletics through going for runs with my dad every Sunday.
‘There was one week I came on my period and I remember thinking: “How on earth am I going to tell him?”.
‘It worried me and I remember feeling so embarrassed. But why? What’s the difference between that and saying I had a headache.’
And any reservations Dobbin has about going public on this most private of issues are assuaged by the support that has continued to pour in since she chose the pages of Sportsmail last June to speak for the first time about her epilepsy and related anxiety issues.
‘I am so glad I did that,’ she said. ‘You shouldn’t have to hide these things.’
Breaking records is part of the athlete’s raison d’etre. For some, though, breaking taboos means just as much.