Davy O'Connor: 'Football is not immune to the infliction of mental struggle - it can be easy to forget the person behind the player'

Davy O’Connor is a football coach who has worked with Shelbourne for the past four years. He also campaigns for mental health awareness and hosts the I Sprained My Mental Health podcast.

In 2018, he took on the challenge of running ten marathons in ten days as part of the mental health support charity AWARE’s Endurance Challenge.

Last year, O’Connor ran 247km in 72 hours, the number chosen to represent the 24/7 challenge mental health issues and mental illness can pose.

This year in England, The FA have partnered with mental health organisation Heads Together promoting a season long campaign to 'kick off a conversation.’

The organisation itself is spearheaded by the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge (Prince William & Kate Middleton) and its foundations are laid in providing services and from workplace to schools to parental support relevant to mental health & wellbeing.

From a sporting context, the Heads Up initiative was launched in English football to change the conversation around mental health.

Recently, over two weekends in February, every football team from across the Premier League, Football League to Women’s Super League dedicated their matches to Heads Up, encouraging said conversation around mental health.

It was noticeable: colourful advocacy with the campaign logo on every shirt, flashing advertising hoardings and trending hashtags across social media platforms.

The trend was captured by Sky Sports with its inclusion of what was highlighted as a ‘powerful’ conversation about mental health during its flagship Super Sunday broadcast.

In studio, Jamie Redknapp, Graeme Souness and Chris Hughton each shared thoughts and observations on player wellbeing.



The discussion focused predominantly on football’s dressing room culture in what is traditionally recognised as an intense, alpha male-centred environment.

Would a young player feel comfortable opening up about any aspect of emotional unease? Is it easier to bottle it up than face accusations you may not be up to the job?

The debate also found focus on social media and the negative impact it can have on players. Without ground-breaking detail, similar to that of debating frailty in a dressing room setting, but Redknapp stated that he would not have been able to handle the negative side of Twitter et al as a young player.

The comments and opinion online with regard the conversation swayed from praise to criticism and back again.

Some disregarding the sports channels’ inclusion of a topic still very much taboo for much of society as nothing more than 'band-wagon,' 'click-bait' opportunism with some comments lamenting old school managers like Souness as part of the culture problem within the game.

The positive evaluations honed in on the simplicity of highlighting open debate on mental health from recognisable and respected figures within the game.



On the back of massive campaign backed by royalty, where do the borders for the desired conversation around mental health in sport sit?

A quick online search for content related to player wellbeing and footballers’ mental health will reveal both the severity and somewhat normalised impact of internal problems inflicted upon footballers.

Aaron Lennon. Andy Cole. Michael Carrick. Leigh Griffiths. All sports personalties who have spoken with integrity about the difficult effects of depression respectively.

Football is not immune to the infliction of mental struggle. It can be easy to forget the person behind the player.

Questioning the sincerity of a sports broadcaster including a conversation about mental health during its prime weekend slot is not the argument to be had.

Depending on what’s at stake and the teams that feature, Super Sunday attracts an audience anywhere from 450,000 to 1.5 million.

Even at its lowest haul, that's nearly half a million people exposed to the aforementioned discussion which, in detail, is more important than the latest offside or VAR intervention.

Potentially a lot of parents watched on with sons and daughters who someday dream of playing football professionally.

Right there was an opportunity to introduce a conversation on the subject with football as a way to relate to it.

Similarly, any coaches watching knowing that some of their team were sat in front of the television in their homes were similarly left with a reference point to highlight the importance of talking and being open.

Kick-starting a conversation means just that. It doesn't mean solve the mental health crisis or present a sophisticated thesis on what is a complex, intricate matter that affects many people in many ways.

The dressing room culture is not the absolute for prosecution in terms of damage done to a player nor is social media with its varied input and commentary.

These are potentially contibuting factors in what is too vast an issue to pin on one medium. But in opening a conversation on different facets that do potentially contribute to the hurt and inner torment of an individual, triggers can be identified and worked on.

Driven by a campaign urging communication and dialogue, Sky Sports’ discussion on mental health within the game was more necessary than it was powerful.

If every one of us involved in the game, from player to coach to fan, spoke and listened out of neccesity to the person next to us then the door to conversation swings right open whether it’s live on TV or not.