The footballing community is “not doing enough work on suicide prevention” according to one professional player.
Oxford United midfielder and former Wales international Will Vaulks has fronted the club’s Can We Talk? campaign, focusing on mental health awareness in the workplace.
As a result, Vaulks has been nominated for the English Football League’s (EFL) Community Player of the Season, having last year won the Fifpro Players Voice award for his work.
The 32-year-old has spent the past year trying to get every other club in England to sign up to the training scheme, but said it had “proven hard”.
“I want every single football club to have it -the players need support, the staff need support. It’s a high pressure environment,” the 32-year-old said.
“We love football and it’s fun to play, but it’s a big thing as well.”
Will Vaulks has been nominated for the EFL’s Community Player of the Season [Getty Images]
Vaulks, who is a former Wales international, previously lost both of his grandfathers to suicide within the space of a year.
His own grief, alongside the loss of U’s legend Joey Beauchamp and young fan Jack Badger to suicide in recent years, prompted Vaulks to lead the club’s campaign.
As part of a partnership with charity Baton of Hope, Oxford United now deliver in-house, personal suicide prevention training to all of its players and staff.
“You might not always have a player who’s been bereaved by suicide that’s willing to speak, but in terms of prevention and awareness, that can be put into every workplace,” Vaulks said.
“I want football clubs to realise that it’s out there, we can support you, we can put into place what we’ve done at Oxford and actually you have a responsibility to do it.”
“You’ve got young men and women in your care that there currently is not enough support for – you need to be doing it,” he said, addressing clubs.
“Everyone’s all well and good sharing these things and saying ‘oh, that’s really good what you’ve been doing there’ – do it then, because you really can, it’s simple.”
