Pulling together a country footy mental health awareness round in the same timeslot each season can\u2019t become another job for already stretched volunteers, according to WorkSafe ambassador and 2016 Footscrary premiership star Tom Boyd.<\/p>\n
Boyd has backed calls for a \u201cwhole of football\u201d<\/a> response to unite the work country footy is already doing in mental health awareness.<\/p>\n He also hopes the AFL can lead the way by also agreeing to a dedicated mental health match at the MCG, or even round, played at the elite level on the same weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cWith all the resources and support (the AFL) have, I think there is an argument to say \u2018let\u2019s do something proper\u2019,\u201d Boyd said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure it will happen, but I hear the calls for it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe challenge in local footy, particularly regional Victoria, is trying to align a whole bunch of resources behind clubs that are stretched pretty thin from a volunteering point of view.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t want a mental health round ending up being a burden for people who are trying to set it up.\u201d<\/p>\n Since retiring prematurely from the AFL due to his own mental health struggles, Boyd has joined WorkSafe and travels across regional Victoria promoting workplace safety and mental wellbeing.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThere is a lot of work already happening,\u201d Boyd said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you can convince the AFL to be the beacon for this stuff, then trickling down is a lot easier rather than burdening all these volunteers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not a bottom up thing, more a top down.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason why WorkSafe engages directly with a footy-netball club is because they are essentially the community.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s where everyone gathers two or three times a week, where they deal with issues, have a good time, build connection, create a social safety net for so many of their people.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s wrong to discredit the sheer amount of work that is happening already.\u201d<\/p>\n