How Gold Coast footy club is tackling spate of junior suicides

A Gold Coast rugby league club has moved to put an end to the spate of suicides by young players.

A GOLD Coast rugby league club has moved to put an end to the spate of suicides by young players.

Officials from the Runaway Bay Junior Rugby League club feared they would lose more young lives if nothing was done after being forced to bid farewell to two in the past six of months.

Dallas Bain died in January at the age of 21 and Tira Junior Rau, 18, was lost in October last year. Before that Tristan Geraghty took his own life at 16 in 2016 and committee member Peter Smith lost brother David, an assistant coach of the under-12 team, in 2014.

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Runaway Bay last month brought in Gus Worland, a radio personality and founder of Gotcha4life, an organisation that works to prevent poor mental health.

Runaway Bay junior Jay Robinson, 12, with Gus Worland, Junior President Nathan Wydmuch and committee member Peter Smith. PIC TIM MARSDEN

Worland spoke to a crowd of 130, made up of players, parents, coaches and staff, at the BLK Performance Centre.

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Worland started Gotcha4life three years ago after losing a close friend to suicide and has worked at breaking down the barriers stopping males from reaching out for help.

“We lose more than six a day now to suicide, it’s the number one way to die if you are aged between 15 and 41 in Australia,” Worland said.

“I’m trying to get into as many clubs, schools and sports clubs as possible with kids around that age group to try and change what it takes to be a man today as opposed to what it was in the past.

“We are trying to live up to a stereotype of the Aussie male but it’s impossible to be the bloke who takes on everything, is completely stoic all the time and pushes all his emotions down. That stereotype suggests he doesn’t ever show any emotion and if he does it tends to be more like anger rather than being able to take a breath and sometimes find one person to say ‘I’m struggling and I need your help’.”

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Smith said the deaths of those at the 400-member club had rocked them to the core. “Losing someone like that deeply affects everybody,” Smith said. “It’s becoming too prevalent having kids take this option.”