‘Holy s---, this is nuts’: Selwood tragedy brings mental health crisis into focus at Coolangatta FC
The tragic deaths of Troy and Adam Selwood prompted Coolangatta coach Pearce Hanley and his players to confront the mental health crisis in their own ranks - launching a grassroots awareness round aimed at breaking the silence gripping young Aussie men.
Local Sport
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The tragic deaths of ex-AFL players Troy and Adam Selwood have triggered a Gold Coast football club to put mental health in the spotlight with a designated awareness round.
Coolangatta Football Club coach Pearce Hanley was rocked by the death of his former Brisbane Lions star teammate Troy in February and then Troy’s twin brother Adam in May.
A conversation with players revealed Hanley was far from alone in having his life touched by suicide.
On Saturday Coolangatta will host its first Stand Together Mental Health Round in the QFA Div 2 South, alongside former St Kilda coach Scott Watters’ youth mental health and wellbeing non-profit LifeChanger, to do something about it.
“Unfortunately we’ve had a few people at our club who have been affected by mental health or suicide and really it was the players who wanted to take action,” Hanley said.
“It was a lot of our younger players, with a couple of senior players, who took action and LifeChanger came in and ran a workshop with us.
“Now they’ve been good enough to help us start a round. We’d love for everyone to get involved in and be a part of.”
Troy Selwood was among the first people Hanley met when he left Ireland to join the Brisbane Lions.
His death, followed by Adam’s months later, was the catalyst for Hanley to start the conversation around mental health with his team of park footballers.
“When I first came to Australia Troy Selwood was at my club, who recently passed, and then his brother passed,” Hanley said.
“That triggered a lot of our conversations early, along with everything else happening in society.
“I was like, holy shit. This is actually nuts. The number of young men we’re losing is at crisis levels. This needs to be spoken about and needs to be front of mind.”
LifeChanger co-founder Watters said the culture around mental health awareness in football had changed significantly since he coached Saints in 2012-2013.
“10 to 20 years ago the stigma attached to mental health was really significant and caused many to suffer in silence,” Watters reflected.
“There was a lot of stoicism in sporting environments and young men, where it was really difficult if you had challenges or problems to put your hand up and get support.
“That’s being broken down, now we’re saying that we’re aware of what we all face at different times.
“The best antidote that we have to combat those challenges around mental health is our connections with our community, friends and mates all looking after each other.
“That’s what happens at a good football club and this young group coming through (at Coolangatta) are really focused on breaking that stigma and building connections and community.
“They were tired and frustrated at seeing their mates struggle, and in some cases losing their mates, so it was really led by them wanting to make a difference in the community.”
Watters added that four in 10 young people had reported experiencing a mental disorder in the past year, crystallising why Saturday’s Stand Together Mental Health Round was so important.
The theme of this round is ‘Bring a Mate for Mental Health,’ with attendees invited to attend with a friend to foster community spirit.
LifeChanger will run sideline activations, with former Brownlow Medallist Shane Crawford and Watters leading a closest to the pin kick competition centrefield.
Hanley hopes the round will catch on, first around the Gold Coast and then across Australia’s football community.
“It was kind of cool starting it but this is more of a wider community thing that we’d love for everyone to get involved in and be a part of,” Hanley said.
Watters said it was inspiring that a group of 20-30 year old players had got behind the concept at Coolangatta.
If you or someone you know is experiencing hardship, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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