Andrew Porter: 'There's a lot more to players than what they see on social media'

MORE TO PLAYERS: Andrew Porter says there is more to players that what you see on the pitch or on social media. Picture:  Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

It is not often during an Ireland media session, Six Nations or otherwise, that a quote from former US president Teddy Roosevelt surfaces, but when it does, you pay attention.

And so it was, with Ireland preparing to take on England at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium at the onset of their championship title defence next Saturday, that the 26th occupant of the Oval Office was referenced by Andrew Porter as he explained his willingness to discuss his vulnerabilities in the public domain.

The Leinster, Ireland and potential British & Irish Lions loosehead prop has been praised for his openness is sharing the mental anguish he has experienced, most recently this month when announcing that he and wife Elaine were expecting their first child following two previous miscarriages.

It was not the first time Porter, 29, has been so transparent. He went on camera in last season’s Netflix documentary series ‘Full Contact’ to speak about his mental health issues following the loss of his mother Wendy to breast cancer when he was 12 and he was happy to explain why during a media interview at Ireland’s warm weather training camp in Portugal this weekend, sending reporters to their book of quotations in search of Roosevelt’s words to underpin his point that anonymous social media commenters have little appreciation that the athletes they criticise go the same troubles as every other human.

“It is not the critic who counts… the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,” is an abbreviated version the Roosevelt quote and Porter said: "A lot of people only see the players on the weekend when they're playing, but that's only five per cent of who players are.

"Most of the time we're at home. We have families, lives outside of rugby as well and I suppose there's a lot that can happen outside of rugby that can impact your on-field performance and vice versa. There's stuff that can happen in the game that can affect your home life as well.

"It's incredibly important, I think people only see us rugby players as rugby players and not as brothers, husbands, boyfriends or whatever - there's so much to the players other than what you see for 80 minutes on a Saturday.

"I suppose you get a lot of people who think they know what they're talking about, who think they know the players, who think they know how to play the game but they don't actually know because they've never done it themselves.

"You can bring up that quote about 'The Man in the Arena' by Theodore Roosevelt whereby people might think they know what's going on, but they've no clue when it comes down to it.

"It's tough to see, because there's a lot of criticism now, people have a lot of platforms to do it now. People would be posting stuff and they'd be able to hide behind their social media accounts, I think people who do it are cowards.

“There's a lot more to players than what they see on social media."

Porter his pleased he was so open in front of the Netflix cameras for the episode which aired a year ago, despite his initial reservations.

“Going into it, I had second thoughts about it and when they were sending me the edits before it was released – just to make sure I was happy with everything – and I was reluctant even to watch the edits. And it took me a while to watch it even when it came out. My wife actually had to force me to watch it because I hate listening to the sound of my own voice that much!

“But I’m definitely glad that I did it because of the amount of positive feedback I got from it, the number of messages of support but also people who might not have had that knowledge about me. It resonated with a lot of people because it doesn’t just have to be people who are big into rugby. I think it struck a chord with a lot of people who happened to watch it beyond rugby fans. It reached a broader audience, of people who are maybe struggling with their mental health.

“Yeah, I’m glad I did it, in the hope that I could shed light on how I dealt with things and what I went through. Hopefully people can use that to improve their mental health or seek help if they need it.” 

Porter is in a strong place right now, his first child on the way in May though he admitted: “I feel a bit bad being over here in Portugal being looked after so well when my pregnant wife is at home battling the storms. No, we’re delighted, taking small steps and taking each day as it comes.”