Statement Shirts
Today is World Mental Health day, and NIFL, along with Action Mental Health have launched a new campaign this week called Statement Shirts. By wearing retro shirts fans are encouraged to start the conversation and break the stigma around mental health.
Club captain Cillin Gilmour, forward Brian Healy and midfielder Lee McGreevy donned a few retro shirts this week as part of the campaign promotion, and we caught up with Cillin afterwards to talk about mental health within the world of football locally.
“I think it’s a brilliant thing the league is doing and what the teams are buying in to. Obviously here in this country it is something that needs addressed and we say this every time this time of the year comes around and we always repeat ourselves, but we repeat ourselves because something does have to be done and stuff like this really, really brings to light just how rife mental health issues are here.
You know, being part of a team like Ballyclare with a real great community around it, with a real great team and coaching staff around it is something that helps so much. It’s an escape, it’s a happy place for me and the boys to go to on a Tuesday night, Thursday night, and on Saturday afternoon. Win, lose or draw for those 90 minutes, every time, football is the only thing on your mind, and that can be a great release of stress.
We have such a good group here in Ballyclare, where we do share our feelings with each other, we do talk to each other, when we’re down or when we’re upset, but it is something that that we could obviously do more of. I’m quite good expressing my emotions, and how I am feeling, but a lot of time even when I am down, I don’t go quiet I do the complete opposite, I then become loud and real chatty, I almost mask it rather than just talking about it, and that is just sort of a coping mechanism for me. Obviously being a man, it’s that natural instinct in us to hide how we’re feeling if we are feeling down, and not wanting to talk about it and express our feelings to other people, so I think that a scheme like this that the league and the club are putting on, is a brilliant thing. I think everybody should really buy into this and it could be the start of something big.
I know that Davy McDaid, Jonny McMurray and Jeff Hughes are doing some brilliant, brilliant work at the minute with their Man On program so it is being brought forward quite a bit more than what it usually was, and I think it’s hugely important that the clubs, fans, players, everyone around clubs talk about this and buys into this. Hopefully this won’t just be a once a year thing, this will become an ongoing thing, a weekly thing and monthly thing as the boys are doing down at Larne with Davy, Jeff and Jonny. This will be a start to address the whole mental health crisis here in this country because it is obviously a problem that we face.
If this only helps one person speak up about their problems rather than doing something extreme or harm themselves, whatever it may be, then it’s been an absolute massive success. It will hit home for people, a lot of people. Everyone’s been affected by suicide or self harm, you don’t know anyone nowadays who hasn’t been affected by it.
I’m really looking forward to seeing it over the weekend and for all the fans and the clubs to be posting about it, I think it’ll be a really, really brilliant thing and I think it will help help hundreds and hundreds of people. ”
If you are needing to talk so someone about anything that you are going through, then this page is a good place to start: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/get-help
We look forward to seeing the retro kits this weekend, and throughout the season.
