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REVIEW: Almost blood, lots of sweat, and were they tears?
At times, Match Fit, the out-of-shape television series “Old Blacks” went to places as dark as an All Black jersey, with conversations about depression and heavy drinking when rugby careers collapsed.
For those who missed kickoff last week, Matching fit Tuesday at 7.30pm, it shows a group of former All Blacks trying to recapture some of the best of their world for one last game.
Supplied
The Match Fit Team (from left): Frank Bunce, Charlie Riechelmann, Troy Flavell, Kees Meeuws, Sir Graham Henry, Piri Weepu, Ron Cribb, Pita Alatini, Craig Dowd, Buck Shelford, Eroni Clarke and Eric Rush.
But that’s just the surface. This is not a sports program, this is a men’s health program, it is a story of how friendship, family and sports companionship can lift you out of the deep darkness of the mind.
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And the second show showed the darkness and the light that fortunately followed.
Super coach Graham Henry said he had been struck down by depression, after coaching Wales and then opting to take the British and Irish Lions to Australia in 2001.
“What he should have said was ‘no, I’m too busy.’ I didn’t know I had depression, I just didn’t want to be there anymore, ”he said.
“The biggest concern of professional coaches these days is the mental well-being of their players. We know about strength and conditioning training, but we don’t know much about mental fitness. “
Shaun Botterill / Getty Images
Sir Graham Henry made some frank admissions about his health.
He resigned as Wales coach and returned to New Zealand “to get out of the heat.” The lessons he learned put him in a better mental space for the 2007 Rugby World Cup disappointment, he thought.
Even Pita Alatini, a smiling and cheerful midfielder, hit the alcohol hard when coach John Mitchell knocked him down, just when he thought he was playing the best rugby of his career.
“It was a really bad binge,” he said. His family life, as it is described now, seems so far removed from those days. Fortunately, his wife Megan had seen what had happened to other rugby couples and decided it would not happen to them.
Ron Cribb, an immensely talented No. 8 and prankster whose career ended when a mallet fell on his neck, talked about living in cars, with an air that it got a lot worse than that. He couldn’t have saved himself.
Friend, almost brother, Troy Flavell spoke of him and Cribb supporting each other, “through the darkness”, far from when they debuted in the test.
Three
Mateship is at the center of Match Fit.
“I wasn’t prepared for the pressures and the other things expected of me from a player,” Cribb said of his 16-test career, which followed an education that kicked him out of two schools.
He turned to drink and withdrew, the tough man’s way of facing life.
Cribb had to deal with life again. He seemed on the verge of tears when former All Blacks doctor John Mayhew advised him not to play contact sports because of his neck.
But in addition to sadness, this program offered laughter, work and life lessons.
In their effort to get in shape, at the center of which is the high-level camaraderie that is recognizable as Kiwi, there were nutritional tips, ice baths, and a tortuous ‘confidence course’ from the navy in which no one with overweight or unfit you can trust.
The hilarity remained. When the nutritionist suggested that grain bread, vegetables, fruits, nuts and … legumes replace the favorite culinary delights of pies and burgers, Alatini whispered to Weepu “They are my favorites!”
When the rabbit-shaped instructor in the confidence course asked the group if there were any medical conditions or injuries that they should be aware of, almost all hands went up and Eroni Clarke rubbed her belly.
Then the torture began. Walls, ropes, pools, tunnels, a rope swing, with crawling, climbing, and Weepu admitting his fear of heights. But they all made it, with a little help from their friends.
And in the end, a football game against speedy youngsters (many related to the Old Blacks), which resulted in more wheezing and sweating, but thankfully no injuries, so there will be another episode next week, after all.
At halftime, Henry praised the skill level and effort of his gang, with a Mission Accomplished message.
“We have achieved the goal of the first half, which will be available for the second half,” he said.
Where to get help
- 1737, do you need to talk? Call toll free or text 1737 to speak with a trained counselor.
- Kidsline 0800 54 37 54 for people up to 18 years old. Open 24/7.
- Life line 0800 543 354
- Rural support trust 0800 787 254
- Samaritans 0800 726 666
- Suicide Crisis Helpline 0508 828865 (0508 SUPPORT)
- Youthline 0800 376 633, free text 234, email [email protected], or find online chat and other support options here.
- Anxiety New Zealand 0800 ANXIETY (0800 269 4389)
- If it’s an emergency Click here to find the number for your local crisis assessment team.
- In a life-threatening situation, call 111.
