Huddersfield Giants prop Matty English has spoken openly and honestly over how the tragic passing of teammate Ronan Costello affected him.
Costello was a youngster coming through the ranks at Huddersfield, and was playing in the U19’s competition when he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a freak accident in a game against Salford.
He was airlifted to hospital, but unfortunately the 17-year-old passed away a few days later, on June 14 2016.
English was also coming through the system at the time, and was in the same academy side as Costello at the time of his passing.
Appearing on Talk Sport earlier this week, the forward opened up on how he dealt with Costello’s death, and how he is now encouraging others to seek help if needed.
He said: “It’s actually coming up to the 10-year anniversary of Ronan’s passing, and like you mentioned, it took me a couple of years to deal with it myself and realise that I wasn’t being myself.
“I was struggling, and really found myself in some dark days.
“To have that first hand experience of going through some tough times, and coming out the other side, it’s something I’m passionate about, and [I want] to pass that on to young adults and people out there that may be struggling.”
The RFL and RL Cares have this week backed the Team UP Week, which helps young boys to tackle isolation, loneliness and mental health issues.
English is a huge advocate for the campaign, and described how services for both players and the general public have improved in the past decade.
He explained: “I think in sport and in society generally, we’re losing the stigma that men need to keep it all to themselves.
“We’ve definitely come a long way since I started in rugby and [in] rugby, I think it’s only a growing nature that there is that support for players, no matter what they are going through.
As part of Super League’s player welfare policy, all 14 teams must have a dedicated full-time welfare officer, or team of people, who help players get the guidance they need – be that on a personal or a professional level.
“It’s all confidential,” English said, commenting on the work they do. “It doesn’t get back to the head coach.
“You know that if you go and speak to him about an issue, it could be drinking, gambling, whatever, sort of emotion you’re struggling with, that situation goes no further and has no consequence on you or your playing.”
For more information on the Team Up campaign, you can click here.
Check out the latest episode of The Serious About Rugby League Show on our YouTube channel here.
