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Mental health in sport in New Zealand
A narrative on openness since Sir John Kirwan spoke out.
Izzy Dagg - Behind the Jersey included with the permission of Voices of Hope. For more information on the Behind the Jersey campaign and Voices of Hope, continue reading below.
While more and more athletes share their stories on their mental health in New Zealand once they have retired it remains a difficult environment for sports stars to share their struggles publicly during their playing career.
Even Sir John Kirwan, the decorated All Black who has been at the forefront of mental health awareness in Aotearoa only spoke publicly about his struggles with depression once he retired in 1999. Numerous former All Blacks, basketballers, field athletes, coaches and other high-performance athletes have spoken publicly in recent years about their mental health struggles in a range of video series including TVNZ’s ‘The Upside' and Voices of Hope’s ‘Behind the Jersey'.
These public admissions must go a long way to helping athletes and people in general realise that although you may be living a special existence being paid to play your sport, people can still be affected by mental health challenges.
Players aren’t likely to share their struggles for fear of getting dropped from the team/squad, missing out on financial opportunities including endorsements, harsh criticism from media outlets and pundits on social media.
In some ways it appears we have come a long way since Sir John Kirwan began the mental health conversation publicly but there is still a long way to go until there is a culture where mental health challenges are widely discussed and accepted, both during and after a professional sporting career.
Cycling New Zealand faced intense scrutiny after one of their high-performance athletes died after a suspected suicide in 2021 and a subsequent report found the organisation prioritised “medals over wellbeing”.
Cycling, hockey, gymnastics, rowing and football have all faced scrutiny after reviews into the codes found allegations of bullying. Toxic cultures amid ‘regular’ pressure for high performance athletes would increase the likelihood that any mental health challenges would be kept quiet.
Dr Sarah Beable conducted a study on elite athletes in New Zealand and found that one in five met the criteria for depression. High-risk times were approaching retirement, individual athletes over team athletes and younger athletes.
It’s not clear how much professional support is available to athletes during their career. If athletes find themselves dropped from the squad, retire or participate in sport which has limited funding available it is likely any ongoing support is limited or unavailable to them.
When All Blacks mental skills coach Gilbert Enoka retired in 2023 after 23 years, much was made of his contribution to the team yet his role would hardly be discussed when compared to other coaches beneath the head coach throughout his career.
All Blacks continue to have intense scrutiny, not only from journalists and commentators but the general public do not hold back on unleashing horrendous criticism on the players’ performances and personal choices.
In former All Black Israel Dagg’s interview for the ‘Behind the Jersey’ series he detailed just how distraught he was to be dropped from the 2015 World Cup side.
“We talk about Israel Dagg the rugby player, that’s all I thought I was… all I could think about was five million people laughing at me.”
“I struggle everyday…I struggle with depression."
“We are All Blacks, everyone thinks we are so manly, so muscly and so strong but the reality is when we take the jersey off we are just normal people.”
In 2015 his public comment about being dropped via Twitter was: “Gutted to not be in the RWC2015 team but congrats and all the best @AllBlacks men.”
While there are likely a number of reasons why Dagg's public comments have become more open in recent years, it shows the difficulties players must face being able to share their struggles openly.
Another former All Black, Zac Guildford, had his assault charges, drunken nakedness and other criminal incidents ridiculed in media outlets during his professional career.
Guildford said in a 2022 interview with Newshub he had no one to talk to when he was playing professional rugby while managing worsening mental health.
“This is a ruthless country, it’s a tough place to get well."
“We portray rugby players as people who don't have problems and don't talk about it."
“It's totally the other way around. All Blacks do cry. They do have feelings.”
Guildford had lost his father to a heart attack while he watched his son play for the All Blacks’ Under 20s side.
While Sir John Kirwan has led the movement for openness about mental health challenges by sports stars, there continues to be barriers for athletes to share these during their playing career. The landscape for acceptance of mental health discussions appears to be changing but there is still much work to be done.
