There has been many battles this cricket season, even before the Test matches have begun.
There has been the tragic battle of the Hughes family against the cricketing establishment following last month’s painful inquests, the implausible defiance of Australia’s selectors against those who doubt their decisions (despite evidence suggesting the validity of such concerns), or former captain Michael Clarke battling seemingly everyone on matters of egotistical triviality.
Yet when it comes to the revelatory disclosures of Bradley Hogg it seemingly came and went with minimal murmur.
In case you missed it, former Australian wrist spinner Hogg came out earlier this week with his own tome of tales via a book launch. While his releasing a book is of little news value, given its commonplace occurrence – the details of how he considered taking his own life is not worthy of the relative apathy it has been greeted with, given the scores of keyboard taps afforded to the aforementioned issues above.
Yet on the eve of Australia’s first Test assignment of the summer, this story becomes highly pertinent. The modern sporting landscape has become too accustomed to dealing with business first, at the expense of other matters. In one of his less trivial moments, Michael Clarke revealed as much with regards to the way in which the Adelaide Test that followed Phillip Hughes’ passing was organised in such haste.
While it can never be doubted that such momentous reveals have rich sellable quality, it is ludicrous that stories such as Hogg’s has generated minimal discussion, given the spate of stories relating to professional sportspeople’s mental wellbeing.
While it is unfair to apportion any culpability on the likes of Cricket Australia, it is shameful that the governing body has not made any public comment in regards to Hogg’s revelation. Furthermore, this further underlines the need for change in the culture of professional sport in this country.
The change has to relate specifically to how young budding sports men and women are not brought up in the bubble of fleeting stardom that afflicts most of them prior to them being spat out to relative insignificance. Such a fall explains the struggles of many sportspeople, including Hogg.
In his book, he cited his inability to adjust to life in an office job, coupled with his marital issues and losing the stardom that accompanied his time in the national side as what drove him towards the darker moments of his life.
The change needs to fall on sporting bodies enabling their young charges from living the ordinary life of people alongside the extraordinary lives of athletes. The accepted notion that young men and women of quality sporting stock can thrive within a temporary fishbowl existence, only to then be returned to the normal society from whence they originally came, is a furphy.
The stories of struggle across the sporting codes are too frequent to disregard as irregular.
The point isn’t about the struggle – c’est la vie – but is how the struggle is not being used to motivate change, or worse, not being discussed. Before the main game begins at the WACA tomorrow, it is critical to our young sporting prodigies’ future wellbeing to effect the change that can let them live both the ordinary and extraordinary.
Warnie's Love Child
Guest
Vas, the implication in your article is that there is a strong link between a sportsperson going from being in the public eye to relative obscurity as a major cause of suicidal thoughts. Another way of looking at it is those sportspeople already had feelings of low self-esteem prior to their fame, and their time as a well-known public figure actually masked their true inner self. Even many people who are never famous get through life because they find themselves activities/goals/reasons which on the surface keep them busy and occupied, whilst deep down they are fighting their demons. We often just look at what goes on on the outside, rather than what is happening in the heart and soul.
Michael Steel
Roar Pro
I read a review of this book on the Roar last week and I'm sure the author found it disappointing that Brad Hogg wrote a book about his personal battles and marriage issues. I'm having no luck finding the article.
HarryT
Guest
Thanks Vas for this article. A month ago I reluctantly attended a work seminar on suicide and identifying those at risk. I realized that my perceptions on the subject were completely wrong. 8.3 people a day or 3,027 people committed suicide in 2015. That is 3x the number of road deaths. The scary statistic is that for every suicide there are at least 40 attempted suicides according to researched medical records. 85+ and 35-45 males are the most at risk age groups. The main message of the seminar was that we have to start TALKING about suicide especially to those we feel may be contemplating suicide. Historically we don't talk about suicide because of the shame of it being a crime and a sin, or that talking might bring on thoughts of suicide. Note that 90% of people contemplating suicide don't want to die, and they know it will devastate their loved ones, They WANT to talk about their feelings but can't so you must ask them directly 'are you thinking of committing suicide/killing yourself/ending it all. Don't use euphemisms like 'doing something silly'. And listen, don't fix and get them to a safe place if necessary. The program is called 'safeTALK', so google it and organise it. Help shatter the secrecy about suicide. This is a clip of Kevin Hine who survived a jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. Heart wrenching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcSUs9iZv-g Lifeline 13 11 14
Wayne
Roar Guru
I'm okay with it not being plastered all over the media. It's a very real subject matter for a lot of people (myself included), and it's a difficult subject to discuss. Let alone letting the keyboard warriors loose, or worse making it trivial.
Damo
Guest
1) It's not a sexy media story. There's no scandal, no drugs, no criminal activity just an honest guy dealing with honest issues that many people go through. Media don't write about those. 2) He's from WA. Unless you fall into the above categories or you're in the way of an east coast hero that is deemed better than you - then the east coast-centric media that dominates Australia doesn't care.
Paul D
Roar Guru
I think given the way in which public sportspeople have increasingly separated themselves from everyman over the past two decades – not unreasonably I might add, given the growing crassness and intrusiveness of the social media set – it becomes difficult to elicit sympathy from the public for their struggles. Most of the commentary I saw on the Hogg situation was along the lines of sympathies all round but if he didn’t want the pressures he could have stuck to his aussie post job and delivered mail. Additionally a lot of the problems he had stemmed from a dysfunctional marriage with his first wife, so I think that makes his struggles very situational and not exactly a poster child for mental health issues. People these days have a lot of stresses and problems of their own. Expecting people to drop their own mental baggage and pay attention to someone else’s struggles who earns a lot more money than them and enjoys a higher profile existence than they do is a bit unrealistic I feel. Call it tall poppy syndrome, it probably is, but that’s my best guess as to why this story didn’t get a lot of attention.
harambe
Guest
I didn't even know Hogg was writing a book let alone released one - so thank you for the article and bringing more awareness to it. I couldn't agree more with the points you have raised as well.
Alex Bellamy
Roar Rookie
I've found the lack of discussion surrounding this story such a shame. With Australian society becoming more open in its discussions around mental health, it is a missed opportunity to not give Hogg’s story more thought. How many young men would have found comfort in the fact that a man like Hogg has also felt how they may be feeling. There is also the growing movement asking the question what does being an Aussie bloke actually mean. The main message to come from this is that men can and should be able to share their emotions more freely. Brad Hogg, the Australian sports star who dealt with and overcame his mental health issues, is a powerful example of this. It is a shame it has not been highlighted more in the mainstream media.