AFL star inspires Socceroo Mabil to shine light on mental health support

Socceroos winger Awer Mabil’s unique goal celebration highlighting mental health issues has struck a chord.

Awer Mabil displays his “Awareness of Mind” goal celebration after scoring against Palestine last week. Picture: Getty Images

As a South Sudanese refugee, Awer Mabil knows something about yearning to be better off, to have money to support your family and other things a kid growing up in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp might never dream of.

He also knows what it’s like to get there, play on the biggest stage and then come to the confronting realisation that the top can be a lonely place.

It’s why the young Socceroos forward wants to reach out to Majak Daw. To tell a man who’s made the extraordinary journey from Sudanese refugee to AFL star, and surpassed all external expectations on the way, that he’s there whenever he needs him.

“I want to,” Mabil said. “But also I have to respect his decision at the moment, that is to give him privacy for him and his family.

“I was very surprised with what had happened. The only thing we can do is offer our full support if he needs it, whatever the reason, we can try to fix it all together.

“So he just needs to take his time and when he’s ready to come out and talk to some people, we’ll be there to help him.”

Mabil doesn’t know Daw personally but has connected with him on social media. His gesture comes a day after the North Melbourne defender wrote an open letter expressing gratitude for being “blessed with a second chance at life” a month after sustaining serious injuries in a fall from Melbourne’s Bolte Bridge.

Hours later Mabil revealed the meaning behind his goal celebration — his fourth in seven caps — against Syria at the Asian Cup, a unique signal he’d come up with three months ago in the hope it would resonate.

Just before sprinting to the dugout and jumping on coach Graham Arnold, the man who’d handed him his international debut against Kuwait last October, he covered his mouth with one hand to highlight that people dealing with mental health issues should talk about it.

The other hand formed a peace sign between his eyes to signify bringing peace to the mind.

Then the 23-year-old told the world why it meant so much.

“As a kid you always want to have everything — play on the highest stage, have the money, have everything,” Mabil said.

“But as soon as you get that, you realise that either you’re alone, or there’s something that’s not making you fully happy. Because it’s not about the money or the attention, it’s all about your happiness at the end of the day.

“If you’re not enjoying what you’re doing you’re just going to isolate yourself and you can beat yourself up a lot of times.

“It’s just about creating that awareness — the more you’re clear in the mind, the more fresh you are in the mind, the better you’ll be able to enjoy the moments of whatever you’re doing.”

The prevalence of mental health issues in general society, and a tendency of sufferers to “go quiet” or “worry what others think” sparked the idea and a new hashtag he hopes will get the word out that there’s no need to be afraid of judgment. Mabil and the Socceroos have kicked off a new #AMChallenge campaign — that can be interpreted as either “Awer Mabil” or “Awareness of the Mind” — to capitalise it.

“People are saying thank you for bringing this up, it really means a lot,” he said.

“Sometimes you can take this indirectly as some people also can be suffering from this but don’t want to say it straightforward.

“I’m just there to offer myself whenever, and anyone can send me a message and I can help them or find someone else better who can help them.”