Matt Cooney knows all too well how deadly silence can be. He knows how important it is to shatter the tough bloke culture plaguing sport.
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He is calling on local sporting clubs to steel his bid to break down stigmas surrounding mental health in the Kick 2 Kick 4 A Cause at Deakin Oval beginning at 4pm on March 16 - and winding up exactly 24 hours later.
The 24-hour kick-to-kick football marathon is supporting Menslink's work in addressing men’s health issues, with an eye on reducing high suicide rates of Australians which stand at about 3000 each year.
"That’s the reason why we started the whole thing, to raise awareness about mental health in men particularly who don’t talk to one another as much as they should about their problems," Cooney said.
"To be able to get that message out is really critical to what we’re actually doing."
Organisers have set their sights on topping last year's fundraising total, which is no mean feat.
Cooney and his mates were originally hoping to raise about $5000 last year - they wound up with about $55,000 to go towards Menslink's efforts address men’s mental health in the ACT.
Support has been pouring in from the likes of Brownlow medal winner Adam Cooney, rugby sevens star Alicia Quirk, ACT Brumby Matt Lucas, and Canberra Demons captain Aaron Bruce.
Throw in the backing of some local clubs and businesses, and you have a pretty impressive reach considering this fundraising effort was borne out of a monthly lunch between mates.
"With the amount of money we were able to give to Menslink, they were able to reach about 3000 young men with their ‘Silence is Deadly’ program. That’s certainly an amazing effort," Cooney said.
"We got 140 signed up last year, and we’re about half that at the moment. We’re expecting at least another three teams - we should get to 110 this year.
"We’d like to see a few more clubs get involved, but in saying that we have got a few other community and corporate groups that have come on board."
