In collaboration with the teams’ official healthcare partner Bupa, All Blacks and Black Ferns stars have shared their mental and physical health struggles in a new campaign.
Over the years nothing has struck fear into global rugby fans more than the sight of New Zealand’s All Blacks. Between them the All Blacks and the women’s Black Ferns team have won nine Rugby World Cups, with opponents struggling in vain to find any sign of mental or physical weakness in the eyes of those performing the Haka.
Now, however, members of the two indomitable teams are showing their human side – opening up the mental and physical challenges of competing at the top of elite sport.
In collaboration with the teams’ official healthcare partner Bupa, the Human After All: The Alternative Team Photo campaign aims to shed light on the often-overlooked struggles faced by top athletes and aims to spark global conversations about health and well-being.
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Launching Human After All, Ruby Tui, a 2020 Olympic gold medallist, and 2021 Rugby World Cup winner, said: “There are a lot of eyes on you when you’re a high-performance athlete, but the human story beyond the pitch can often be overlooked. This campaign sheds light on the importance of our individual health journeys and hopefully encourages others to make their health a priority and talk openly about it.”
The campaign features past and present New Zealand players opening up about challenges as diverse as depression and anxiety, motherhood, cancer, and suffering a stroke. Each player has chosen a word to reflect their personal struggles, with Tui choosing Mind to reflect her mental resilience in overcoming adversity.
All Blacks legend Sir John Kirwan, who has spoken and written about his own battle with depression as a prominent mental health advocate, is another leading voice in the campaign.
“During my career, I suffered from anxiety-based clinical depression-a traumatic time marked by suicidal thoughts and the feeling of being alone, even in a stadium of 60,000 people,” he said, explaining how his illness affected him. “The day I realised my depression was an illness, not a weakness, and started to share and understand it, was the day I began to heal. Now, my mission is to normalise mental health and focus on methods of prevention.”
Current All Blacks star Tamaiti Williams suffered his own anxiety problems after his daughter was born three months premature and his wife suffered preeclampsia following the birth.
Speaking about the importance of talking to others about personal issues, he revealed: “It was a challenging time, but I learned a lot. Having the support of my teammates, especially the older players, meant everything. They reminded me that I wasn’t alone, and that made all the difference.”
Others who spoke of overcoming serious illness included 2011 World Cup winners Piri Weepu and Aaron Cruden. Weepu suffered a stroke while training in 2014, while Cruden, was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 19, but beat the disease to become a world champion.
The rugby stars are opening up following global research commissioned by Bupa, which found that 71% of 18–44-year-olds believe role models can inspire positive health changes. With this in mind, the Human After All series encourages more honest discussions about the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of well-being.
To help with this Iain Saunders, Mental Skills Coach for the Black Ferns, offers five key lessons for improving both mental and physical health, applicable to athletes and non-athletes alike.
The first two lessons are to ‘work through it together’, as personal challenges needn’t be faced alone, and that ‘well-being is non-negotiable’ – encouraging us to build strong, healthy habits. Another is that ‘health fuels performance’ – as being fit and healthy is the foundation of success.
Finally, there’s to ‘recover like a pro’, as recovery is just as important as performance, and to ‘be where your feet are’ – to focus on the present moment and what you can do to improve health and performance.
Other stars included in the campaign are the Black Ferns’ Layla Sae, who manages Type 1 Diabetes, Dhys Faleafaga, who reflects on becoming a mother to twins and playing elite rugby, and Maiakawanakaulani Roos, who suffered the loss of a close friend during her school years.
All Black Codie Taylor also shares his decision to take a sabbatical for a mental and physical reset, while Faleafaga’s partner, All Black Sevens forward Tone Ng Shiu discusses fatherhood and the resilience required to overcome a serious injury while going through a major life change.
Praising the Kiwi sporting superstars for joining the campaign, Fiona Bosman, Global Brand Director at Bupa Group, added: “Human After All is an important reminder that we all experience the ups and downs of health and wellbeing, and elite athletes are no exception. We’re so grateful to everyone involved for sharing their stories in support of removing the stigmas around speaking out about health.”