O’Neill’s historic GPA office visit to support ‘We Wear More’ campaign

History was made yesterday as a GAA president paid a visit to the GPA’s offices for the first time. More important was the reason for Liam O’Neill’s visit.

He was on hand at the impressive offices of the players’ association, their home this past two years since moving from their original and far more cramped lodgings in Drumcondra, for the launch of their Emotional Health and Wellbeing campaign.

Dubbed the ‘We Wear More’ campaign, its aim is to “normalise conversations between players around the more emotional aspects of their lives and to help them develop effective coping mechanisms for times when things are not going so well”.

The GPA has been delivering programmes on mental health for a number of years now but this latest is aimed at prevention rather than treatment in an environment where machismo and stiff upper lip can so often take precedence.

GPA CEO, Dessie Farrell, has seen first-hand the issues that can arise with the withdrawal from his Dublin U21 panel of Shane Carthy after it was revealed that he was battling against depression.

“It brought it home in a really stark fashion,” said Farrell. “Just to be aware that somebody who you care deeply about and who you’ve known for a long, long time — one of your players — it makes you think about everything and the effect that it can have.

“For him to deal with that or suffer in silence with it for so long ... it was a bit of a wake-up call, to be fair. It just brought home what we were trying to do here and made it more purposeful.”

The theme ‘We Wear More Than Our County Colours’ refers to the fact that there is more to the person that just the player seen in a stadium and on TV, one as vulnerable as anybody to issues such as depression, financial difficulties and addiction problems.

Conor Cusack, who has been such an inspirational speaker since revealing his own battle with depression, also spoke eloquently about an issue which is all the more relevant for the time of year what with the start of the championship and its attendant pressures.

The extent of the pressure and expectation on players was never more apparent than this week when Limerick hurling captain Donal O’Grady revealed the threatening letters sent to him on the back of the county’s All-Ireland semi-final loss to Clare last year.

“I often hear people say ‘you are an inter-county footballer or hurler, you have the world at your feet’,” Cork’s dual player Eoin Cadogan explained. “I am awful grateful to be involved in what I am, but I know people in inter-county teams outside of Cork that I would be friendly with that are struggling with gambling, drink, relationships, finance and then you go out into this auditorium and it is almost like a scene out of Gladiator.

‘Perform, perform’. Yet they go and get off a bus after and you have no idea what might be going through a guy’s head. They might be locking themselves into a room and no-one understands this. Beneath wearing the jersey, there is more to life. It is important that people realise that and are willing to accept just because a guy isn’t playing well it isn’t because he went out to play bad it might be because there are other issues going on.”

For more information visit www.wewearmore.ie