In my opinion one of the factors that makes rugby one of the best sports around is the culture that that has developed around the game. Rugby culture is based around the core value of teamwork, discipline, enjoyment, sportsmanship and respect. The picture below I think sums up rugby culture so well, two players from opposing teams after the European final sitting and having a beer despite the two experiencing very different emotions.

Finn Russell (left) and Stuart Hogg (right) having a beer together after the 2020 European champions cup final.

Team culture has become so much an integral part of a successful team that in the England rugby team there are four players whose off-field jobs are culture and social secretaries. Some think this is just a glorified way of saying they organise nights out, but they play a much greater role than this. When teams spend a few months together in a high pressure environment is is vital to have a way of decompressing. This can be something as simple as the challenge within the England team to find caffe’s in the area they are staying in search of the best coffee in the world.

Joe Marler sporting an orange mohican.

However rugby culture also has some negative aspects.  Due to the history and nature of the sport being around masculinity and bravery this has led to players not feeling able to talk about deeper emotions or how they are coping mentally. Joe Marler has recently decided to challenge the norm that rugby players need to be strong and show no weakness by telling his story. In an interview with Nik Simon from The mail on Sunday Joe talked about how he used to cry driving to training, and about sitting in a kitchen he smashed because he couldn’t cope. Joe has always been the life and soul of a team, always in the media for good and bad reasons, and no one would think the negative attention would have had so much of an effect on him because of the way he presents himself. As a fan it wouldn’t of even crossed my mind that antidepressant got Joe through the World Cup, even since his teammates have said they didn’t realise but they wish the did because they wouldn’t want him to suffer in silence. This is why it’s so important for players like Joe to share about their mental health because it isn’t a weakness and over time that could break a player down to the point he wanted to quit the game. Hopefully soon it will be normal to talk about mental health in rugby.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-8751171/Englands-Joe-Marler-reveals-thoughts-ending-opens-depression.html