COPA90's New Campaign Uses Football to Tackle Mental Health Issues

Approximately every 90 minutes a man under the age of 45 takes their life. Yet, speaking to each other and opening up is a simple method to help prevent these tragedies. This was the message that suicide charity Maytree intended to get across with this campaign.

COPA90’s role was to look at this from a football perspective: a traditionally masculine environment in which men are brought together, develop the strongest of bonds, share intense emotional experiences and chat to each other regularly. But they don’t necessarily chat about their mental states and how they are feeling on the inside.

Above: Former Premier League footballer, Leon McKenzie, discusses mental health and suicidal thoughts. 

For our first film [top] we set out to find a professional footballer who had experienced suicidal thoughts and bounced back. We were incredibly lucky to find Leon McKenzie. A former Premier League player with a great reputation on the pitch, Leon had also suffered from serious mental health issues throughout his career and battled through them successfully. His openness about the attempt on his own life while at Charlton was well known and, after reaching out to him, Leon was happy to tell his story in the hope that it could help others that may be suffering. 

Above: COPA90's editorial director, UK, Tom Brandhorst

Leon was used to talking about his story, but it was still a topic that we needed to get right and cover in the correct manner. We met him on a particularly cold December morning in London and filmed a chat with him around Charlton’s ground, The Valley. The most emotional part of the interview came when sitting in the East Stand, the only ones in an otherwise empty stadium.

It can perhaps feel daunting when talking to someone who has suffered depression to the point of suicide, as though you don’t want to say the wrong thing and hit a sore spot. It’s important to let them know the questions that are about to be asked, and make it clear that they can stop speaking if they ever feel uncomfortable.

"Meeting these guys really hit home how devastating this issue is, and the gravity of the tragic situations men up and down the country are finding themselves in."

Aside from that we made sure it was a natural conversation that treated Leon’s story with consideration. His story and how comfortable he was telling it were the most important things. Of course there is a message we wanted to get across, but this was done carefully by chatting through it beforehand and letting it come out naturally in answer to questions, with no element of it being forced. 

It goes without saying that this was a very emotional conversation.

For the second film we hoped to find football fans that had lost a fellow fan to suicide [below]. To do this we reached out to COPA90’s audience, as well as the communities of various football clubs and fan groups across the UK. There was a refreshingly positive response and within a day or so several people had got in touch with their stories, or referred us to people they knew that had a story. Weeks later a small crew set off to meet some of the people that had agreed to talk.

Above: Three fans discuss people they have lost to suicide.

These interviews were particularly deep, the emotion when discussing the death of someone else was overwhelming at times. It's an incredibly sensitive topic, with some of the hardest questions to ask another person, especially on camera. As with Leon, it was a calm, natural, considerate conversation, with pre-agreed questions. Meeting these guys really hit home how devastating this issue is, and the gravity of the tragic situations men up and down the country are finding themselves in. Hopefully that’s something we’ve conveyed in the final films.

"It’s important for us to highlight lesser talked about societal issues such as this."

Perhaps part of the reason this project felt difficult at times is because 'suicide’ is such a taboo word; something we’re scared of saying and discussing. Which is exactly the issue. When we realised that, while speaking to Leon, it became easier to have confidence in asking about suicide, remaining tactful at all times, but ensuring that it wasn’t three unspoken syllables for us to fear uttering.

Above: The Six Most Depressing Clubs, a subversive take on the regular 'listicle' content created by COPA90. The film outlined sic teams with generally depressed fans before flipping the message to one about the reality of depression.

As a youth football network with a significant audience, it’s important for us to highlight lesser talked about societal issues such as this. I think in future it’d be great to see advertisers and brands of all types, also in the privileged position of having an audience with which they can communicate, using their influence and reach to give these issues the attention they deserve.