For Steve McCormack, the former club and national coach who is now in his sixth year as Rugby League Cares’ Director of Welfare and Well-Being, Mental Health Awareness Week is a good time to assess the progress that has been made over the last two decades.
“Professional sport can be a tough place,” said McCormack, now 53, who became and remains the youngest head coach in Super League history when he was appointed by Salford in 2001.
“And thanks to the work of my predecessor Emma Rosewarne and many others, Rugby League was at the forefront of recognising that there’s a responsibility for us all to think about more than the physical fitness of the players on the field.
“We earned a reputation as a sport that recognised the importance of caring about the mental and emotional health of the people involved.
“It’s a privilege for me to be in a role where I can support and help people, hopefully enable them to enjoy life – especially in a sport which I grew up with in Wigan, and one which is played by men and women who tend to be as down-to-earth and humble off the field as they are brave and resilient on it.
“Every Super League club has a full-time well-being manager – and as someone who has the opportunity to go into those clubs on a regular basis, I see how fortunate the sport is to have those individuals involved.
“I’m not saying it’s perfect, or that there aren’t challenges. We aren’t the richest sport, but Rugby League has made a big investment over a number of years, and it’s my job to make sure the welfare policy which Emma helped to establish at the Rugby Football League is being followed.”
Rosewarne, who was awarded the MBE in 2022 for her services to the sport and specifically to player welfare, recently returned to the RFL as an independent non-executive director.
“She left a brilliant legacy of systems in place,” added McCormack, who joined RL Cares as Transitions Manager in 2019 and succeeded Rosewarne as Director of Welfare and Well-Being when she stepped down the following year.
“When I was asked by Rugby League Cares to take the role it was a real honour. It was just before Covid, which meant a baptism of fire in many ways – but the challenges provided in that period underlined the importance of what we do at RL Cares, in terms of player welfare and well-being.
“There’s always more we want to do, and we’ll keep striving to do that, working with the RFL, the clubs and the other organisations we work closely with.
“Mental Health Awareness Week is a great example of that. RL Cares are part of the Mental Health and Movement Alliance, working with Mind and Sport England, and part of our role in that is helping to spread awareness through Rugby League and the other places where we’ve taken the Offload and Ahead of the Game programmes.
“I think that’s something else Rugby League can be proud of.”