The details aren’t out yet – and they don’t really need to be – but already journalists are hypothesising that Ben Barba’s downfall is due to the ‘fishbowl existence’ he leads.
That a “shy, retiring” boy from the country has been swept up in his own stardom and the alluring bright lights of the evil, exotic temptress that is Sydney.
That this flashy, vacuous metropolis has mercilessly corrupted the naive youngster and exposed him to demonic vices like gambling, alcohol and fast women with the loosest of morals.
Now Ben Barba obviously has some issues and it’s a good thing that they’re being addressed. It is a bold move by the Canterbury Bulldogs to indefinitely suspend their best player – presumably on paid leave – and it does demonstrate a level of understanding that many civilians could only dream for from their employers.
Obviously, his high-profile status means that this will all be played out in the public spotlight, but if it raises awareness of certain issues and he can come out the other side a better person, then that’s undoubtedly a positive outcome for everyone involved.
But I think it’s interesting how often the ‘fishbowl existence’ is being blamed for the downfall of athletes who have come from a small town and made it big in the city.
I am not a high-profile anything, so I have no idea about this so-called fishbowl. But from what I can gather, it basically refers to everyone wanting a piece of you.
It’s the incessant media attention, the constant adulation from fans in the street – and on the flipside, the unwanted scorn from punters who think they’ve got the right to tell you exactly what they think of you.
Moving from a small country town in Queensland where everyone’s got your back to, as Robert Craddock puts it, the “sizzling epicentre of rugby league,” must take some adjustment.
But people have been moving to cities for years, in search of a better life, despite the inevitable hurdles they’re set to encounter along the way.
In fact, Steinbeck put it best when he wrote that in the eyes of the hungry there is a “growing wrath.” “In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.”
It is increasingly difficult, however, to draw parallels between the Joad family as depicted in ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, and the modern rugby league player.
The Joad family persisted – along with thousands of similarly hopeful Oakies – in their epic struggle across America to reach the fabled, fruitful state of California, much like the Group 14 rugby league player makes the pilgrimage from Coonabarabran to Sydney in search of a trial with the Roosters.
However, while the Joads find life tough in California – due in no small part to the animosity of locals, the oversupply of labour and the general absence of employee rights – the rugby league player who makes it to Sydney suddenly gets everything he dreamed of.
Suddenly, a big paycheck comes in every week – and you’ve got plenty of spare time to figure out what to spend it on. Nightclubs in Sydney appear more alluring than the local country pub, and you cut the line to slap it up with the Polynesian doorman who says he has a brother who played with one of your new teammates in Jersey Flegg.
You’re suddenly tight with John Ibrahim. And while women don’t necessarily know who you are, they’re nonetheless intrigued by the bordering-on-homoerotic male attention you’re receiving in the bars; blokes buying you drinks, taking their photo with you.
You’re loved by everyone, as long as you’re playing good footy.
This can all flip in an instant, though. One nasty comment – be it racist or otherwise – and the party is over. And it’s all over the Daily Telegraph the next day.
I think the first time I ever heard the phrase ‘fishbowl existence’ was when Barry Hall said he moved to Sydney to escape the pressures of playing for St Kilda in the AFL-mad city of Melbourne. But since then, I feel it has been used exponentially as something of a scapegoat; not just in Australia, too, but internationally.
Young NFL recruits must quickly adapt to this new-found notoriety, as must any promising young college basketballer.
Is there any way around this? Or is this a form of Groundhog Day? Will young talented athletes from country towns continue to fall victim to the perils of urban life in an unforgiving city?
I’m sure NRL clubs do try their best to ease young rural players into the spotlight – I’ve heard that many teams conduct mandatory tutorials on how to handle yourself in public, for instance – but perhaps this is just a sad and inherent reality of life, of rural-to-urban migration?
I have no doubt that Barba’s issues could have been dealt with privately while he continued to play football, but his high-profile drove the Bulldogs to proactively play his crisis out through the media.
It seems that, had they not, some scurrilous journalist would have fueled the rumour mill in a tabloid column by saying ‘Barba was seen out at 3am at *insert place with pokies*’, quoting unnamed witnesses, etc. Had the Bulldogs not acted on this now, perhaps it would have all ended in the form of a public apology after a highly publicised incident, ala the Andrew Johns scenario.
It’s a shame that the “face of the NRL” will probably not lace a boot this season, but it’ll help him in the long run. But this isn’t the last time you’ll hear of a young footy player failing to negotiate the “fishbowl existence.”
Malcolm Dreaneen
Roar Pro
There's a publicity angle to this Barba story though - presumably the NRL have known about his issues for months, but chose to ditch him just before Round One. Priceless publicity, and the cynic in me believes he's the fall guy forfocusing people on the new NRL season. Not that I'm complaining, as I take my hat off to the NRL for having the nous to pull these publicity coups out of the hat, time and time again.
Johnno
Guest
This fishbowl theory , intrigues me too. For years I thought all the players wer eliding in fishbowl exsistences, but have not completely but sorta changed my point of view on this. -Full time professionalism, brought about players quitting there old full time jobs, taxi drivers, butchers, tradesman etc. -Now they work full time in sports. -But don't we all to a degree live in fish bowl existences. If you live in west sydney , and are a dentist, most of your friends will probably be dentists who live in west sydney,. Or if you are a cabbie, who lives in west sydney, most or your mates will be other taxidrivers who live in west sydney. People in all industries, have issues, with drugs, alcohol. gambling addiction issues, not jut pro sports industry. For me the big thing is how, if you play pro sport you get treated so differently put up on a pedestal and that create's a fishbowl existence. And many of these young players are now doing part-time University or Tafe courses, but fishbowl existence is created by the pedestal reality they live in.
Dave Edwards
Roar Pro
Thanks for the response, agree with all of your sentiments.
Dave Edwards
Roar Pro
This awful Fishbowl Syndrome will kill us all!
Dave Edwards
Roar Pro
Ironic seeing I wrote the original article, but well played.
Matt
Guest
If you actually read the response, it was about the pressures of fame, and not 1 bit a rant. Sums up your insightful response: http://www.alaskacommons.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/blogging-comments-i-can-typing.jpg
Dave Edwards
Roar Pro
Chill out bro.
Dave Edwards
Roar Pro
But I'm not entirely sure the issues are medical, hence it would be misleading to brush it all off as a 'mental health issue' (and disrespectful to those suffering from actual mental illness). That said, addiction to alcohol and gambling is certainly a mental health issue... but from what I've read his problems are behavioural rather than medical. Long story short, it's a shame he's not going to be playing this year, but I think he'll be judged positively for taking these steps in the longer term.
kid
Guest
Whether a story is reportable is usually determined by whether the public will be better off for knowing the fact. There is no reason the public need to know of the personal issues of ben barba. A simple 1 line statement saying ben will not be playing for the forseeable future due to personal medical resons would have been sufficient.
mushi
Roar Guru
Yep it's cause dey black dat dere widdle brains can't handle the big city.
Matt
Guest
Hardly. Read my comment above. Nobody is designed to handle that much pressure and be fine. Heck, even people have addictions to cope with stress from work (myself included), and they're just "average joe", let alone everything you do being sprawled all over the media with people putting their 2 cents in.
Matt
Guest
Welcome to the media. If people weren't addicted to reading the trifle and paying for it, then they wouldn't exist. So who's really to blame?
PJ
Guest
Ben could always get a job in the Mines for 150k a year and play some local park footy if he cant handle the presure of Sydney. Still make more $$ than the average bloke with out the "fishbowl"existance. If he wants to play NRL he needs to learn how o deal with the pressure that comes with earning 500k + a year
Lou
Guest
Would there be a fish bowl if it weren't for the hungry journos looking for a scoop?? and when they cannot find one they rehash an oldie or worse still create an article purely and simply based on innuendo ,hear say ?? over 1800 young men play AFL and NRL professionally and the only story's that get to print are the negatives !! sure occasionally the warm and fuzzy stuff makes it but the negatives far outweight the positives , everyone's got laundry , problem for these young men is there's is hung out to dry in public, and what of those "journos " constantly pursuing these men , who's judge jury and executioner in there lives ?? maybe it's time to worry more about what happens on the field rather than off,,,
Matt
Guest
Mackay is not a "small country town" where "everyone has your back". Heck, even if you lived in a small town of 5,000 people, how many would you really know aside from "you look familiar"? We were not designed to know thousands of people. You do not need to look any further than Hollywood to watch normal people lose their mind with instant fame. It is not natural. Humans were not designed for current society, even just a 100 years ago the pressure is NOTHING in comparison to now. You might be a hero in your little clan of a few dozen people, and that's basically it. Take any "famous" footballer or hollywood star: - Nearly everyone wants to be your friend purely because of your 'status', and not because they genuinely like you - Anyone that doesn't basically hates you and tells you so - You're plastered all over the internet, news, tv, even billboards and such. Good luck avoiding that - Everybody expects you to be super human all of the time - And you have to maintain this for 10/15/20 years, pretty much your foreseeable future - Once it's over, you'll go back to being a "nobody" The pressure is often too much - especially when it comes at a younger age and not when they're already older and mentally "established", and they quite often go totally off the rails.
Meesta Cool
Guest
You got it in one Astro..
Meesta Cool
Guest
Mals, It isn't only Sydney and The Fishbowl syndrome IS alive and affecting MANY young stars. In the late sixties I had a good friend who was lucky enough to be 'picked up' by THE TOP Soccer club in the area. He made his debut for the first team after only twelve months with the club and was goin great guns, still meeting his mates and seemingly handling it well, THEN, everytime we went out for a quiet drink, up pops the 'fans' and in come the drinks and the abuse if he refused them, and from the non fans came the abuse about everything to get him stirred up. it was shocking. and within 18 months he was a nervous wreck unable to lead the life that we had and with confidence getting less daily.. after 16 games in the first team, he was on the scrap heap and nobody wanted him, the abuse carried on (how he had failed etc.etc) to the point where he emigrated to here and signed for a Melbourne Soccer team who also found him a labouring job. This guy could have been a top player, instead he became a good scaffolder who got $80 a week extra to play soccer against shirt pullers and drongoes!. Yes, THe Fishbowl is nothing new, it has destroyed a lot of youngsters and The press have fuelled the fire!.. It will go on forever.
astro
Guest
The fishbowl existence you describe, is, as far as I can tell, 'fame'. As you say Dave, neither you nor I can know what its like to be 'famous'. I'm sure it has its benefits, if money and gaining entry to nightclubs are the only things that matter in life. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of examples of famous people for whom fame has been a curse, rather than a blessing.
Tigranes
Guest
It seems to be an issue with a lot of the Aboriginal players - guys like Andrew Walker, Robert Lui, Nathan Blacklock, Ewan McGrady, Justin Hodges seem to have issues with living in Sydney.
Von Neumann
Roar Guru
This is such a shame, for the man, and for the fans. In life we can't always help what happens. He will be the stronger for this. It would be a shame as well if last season was his only season in the NRL, or if he does not make a return for this year and allows these pressures and troubles to overshadow his life. Hopefully RL can become a part of his healing, rather than a Toxic enabler, before long....and after that, hopefully he does not have the problems in his life he currently has at all. I see his point, though - with all the eyes in the RL-Sphere, and the time it takes to train and play -- where do you get to sort out your life if its a bit rocky in all that? Also....how do you handle your free time? In those circumstances, the extreme group ECB seems like a life-saver, surely.... (just saying, I dont know his motivations, but generally speaking) I like the article. And this is not confined to just RL and sport, it happens everywhere. And being played out in the media is a required consequence unfortunately. You rightly say it could have been dealt with in private - and it could have - but just by standing him down and saying nothing it would have come out and looked worse....plus its not helping the player any. As a community we need to get behind people as they face their demons and troubles. Again, like the article. Its an all too common theme now - its such a specialist environment and so full-on its hard to adjust. I guess the spiral downward for Barba accelerated when he joined the ECB group of party-goers. __ Just on his gf too, she was/is a lovely girl, but this kind of thing is not uncommon now, especially with 2 kids. The situation happened to me, and yet I get on perfectly fine with my ex, and we actually still spend a lot of time around one another. So for ben, even if they don't work out whatever they need to, its not the end of the world. Time heals wounds.