R U OK? Day ambassador Izack Rodda on his father’s suicide
His father’s suicide was a tragic wake-up call for rugby star Izack Rodda. Now, as R U OK? Day ambassador, he has a clearer understanding of the fragility of mental health.
QLD News
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Rugby star Izack Rodda has opened up about overcoming the blame he shouldered after his father’s suicide, which he admits was among his first thoughts when he got the phone call 18 months ago.
The then 22-year-old Wallabies young gun was 2500km away in Dunedin preparing for the Queensland Reds’ first game of the 2019 season when he learned that his father, Jon Rodda, had died.
You’ve asked, are you OK? What should you do next?
“I got the call on the Thursday night,” Rodda said from France, where he has signed a one-year deal with Lyon.
“I guess the obvious questions about ‘How didn’t I know it was this bad?’ ‘How could he do that’ – all the questions pop into your head in the moment, and the blame on yourself for not knowing.”
Many of his Reds teammates dropped by his room to check on him that night and supported him through the weekend’s game until he could return home to his family.
“They were all just there to support me through those next couple of days, which was really nice,” he said.
“They came to the funeral, took a day off training to come down, which I was really thankful for.
“As a football team we are kind of like a family, so when one person hurts, you all hurt.”
In another cruel twist for Rodda, it was just nine months before he would play the Rugby World Cup, which Jon, who watched every game he played, had been talking about since he gained his first Test cap in 2017.
“He was always talking about it,” Rodda said.
“I said ‘Come on, that’s a few years away yet.’
“That was always one I wish he got to see … I have heaps of moments like that.”
The 24-year-old has spent the time since his father’s death learning about depression and mental illness to better understand what he had gone through, and remove the blame he placed on himself.
He’s an ambassador for suicide prevention campaign R U OK? Day for a second year on Thursday, after coming to understand the importance of starting a conversation.
“I didn’t know much about it at all before my dad passed from suicide,” he said.
“Understanding it really opened my eyes to what he was going through and how much of a struggle it was … to see that it’s not just something you can get over in a heartbeat and it is a genuine illness.
“I’d just try to be someone he could talk to a bit more.
“I’d ask more how he’s going – just ask if he’s OK basically and go from there.”
Of the eight Australians who die every day by suicide, 75 per cent are male, and Rodda – an Ipswich Grammar graduate who played for the Australian Schoolboys and the Junior Wallabies before joining the Reds – is determined to bring what he’s learned into rugby.
“It’s massive in all sporting environments,” he said.
“There is a lot of pressure and a lot of the players I know take it to heart a lot, so it’s good just being able to talk as a group and know that someone like me is there so if someone is feeling down they can come talk, and we can work through it because I know what they’re going through.”
Rodda on hit list for proposed trans-Tasman Super Rugby competition
Rodda spoke from his new base in France where he moved with his girlfriend in June after leaving the Reds a month earlier following a pay dispute.
While he wouldn’t comment on the dispute with the Reds, he said he hadn’t closed the door on Australian Rugby.
“It appealed to me going over to Europe for a year or so just to enjoy the culture and a different style of football, but I’ve definitely been blown away since I’ve come here about how nice the people are and how competitive the team is,” he said.
“I’m just seeing how this year goes but my door’s always open for anything. I haven’t closed any doors yet.”
