Mental Health in Sport: No longer an issue on the sidelines

The FA’s Equality Manager, Funke Awoderu, tells us about the importance of the Mental Health Charter for Sport.

Why you think addressing mental health is important for sport?

The importance of good mental health in sport cannot be underestimated. Whether as an elite athlete, player, manager, coach, official or as a sports administrator, we all need to perform to our best. Sport and performance is about results. Having good resilience is often cited as a coping mechanism for managing stress, anxiety, addictions and depression in sport.

And yet we are all uniquely different in our makeup and will cope differently to situations when we are vulnerable. That is why we need to talk more openly about mental health and its effect in an environment and manner that is free from stigma. Regardless of ability or perceived strengths, everybody is susceptible to mental health problems. It's vital that we promote a better understanding of the issues and develop ways to help both sufferers and their close networks get and give support.

Why the FA is involved with the Charter?

The FA is proud to be one of the founding signatories to the Charter. Football has done a lot of work in this area over the years and there is more it can do. We want to use the Charter as a framework to focus our work both as an employer, and how we work with our partners across the game. The pressures of football, regardless of what level it is played at, are well documented. One just has to glance the front and back pages of the newspapers.

When it comes to mental health, The FA takes its responsibilities seriously. That is why we were committed to ensuring there was a ‘pan sport’ approach to the Charter, hence the need for something which I is universally accepted. It provides us with an opportunity to draw on the strength of people involved such as players, managers, coaches and referees, who are quite often some of the game’s biggest assets. They can explain why this topic matters so much. It is because of the personal impact it has on individual lives and families.

There needs to be more visible conversations to raise awareness of the impact of mental health in football. This, for example, can be listening and sharing personal journeys to reverse the stigma associated with being open about an illness which effects one in four people in this county. Sport and football is in this mix and we should not hide away from it.

What are your hopes for the future around this area?

I welcome the day when football and sport in the UK can be open and transparent about mental health. High profile or not, we need to ensure those that do ‘step up’, feel safe in doing so. We are not there yet. I have huge respect for those, who have over the years, spoken out and continue to do so. We need to build on their strength and take courage from their experiences. I sincerely hope this Charter delivers a way for sports bodies and unions representing player welfare to openly and honestly address mental health issues in sport.

Find out more about the Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation.
 

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