AFL players who are missing games to be with their pregnant partners or children in times of need show that professional sport is waking up to the importance of fatherhood in a man’s life.
The decision by Jamie Cripps and his employer, the West Coast Eagles, to allow the veteran to miss crucial games to attend the birth of his child demonstrates much needed leadership in this space.
Just as Geelong’s Gary Ablett Junior left his team hub in July during an important and compressed part of the AFL fixture to attend to a family matter, West Coast have reportedly given their blessing to Cripps to leave the team hub in Queensland so he can return to Perth where his partner has been heavily pregnant.
Cripps’ departure has come at a time when the Eagles have a mounting injury toll and face an intense fixture of five games inside 19 days.
Healthy Male CEO Simon von Saldern said these and other players similar actions’ this year sent a clear message to society about the importance of making fatherhood a priority, not just for the benefit of the mother and child, but for the father himself.
“Our research shows that many Australian men want to be more involved in the birth of their children and take time off work to care for their children, but many aren’t given the opportunity,” he said.
“This is why we’re calling for employers to not just make parental leave available for men, but also to model it so people feel comfortable taking it.”
The latest data from the Australian Government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows that in 2018-19, only 49% of employers offered parental leave, and men accounted for 6.5% of leave taken by primary carers.
“Jamie Cripps missing crucial games to attend the birth shows that he and his football club have an impressive and modern attitude towards fatherhood that we’d like to see others follow,” said Mr von Saldern.
AFL players and club staff have spent long periods away from their families in “hubs” this year due to COVID-19. Similar ”hubs” or ”bubbles” have been used by other sports, like professional basketball in the US where teams in the playoffs have congregated in one location in Florida.
Mr von Saldern said it was great to see family members increasingly being allowed to join players in the hubs.
“We loved the footage of Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield being greeted by his young son when family members were welcomed into the hubs in recent weeks.”
“Fatherhood is not a part time hobby outside of work. Our research shows that Australian men want more support from society to be active, healthy fathers.”
While having a baby is a joyous time for many men, 1 in 20 men experience anxiety and/ or depression during pregnancy, and 1 in 10 suffer postnatal depression. The risk of suicide is higher for men before and after the birth of a child compared to any other time in their lives.
In the lead up to Father’s Day, Healthy Male is calling for a range of changes to improve the health and wellbeing of men as they try to conceive, become fathers or experience the loss of a pregnancy or child. These changes include:
· Health checks for men when they’re planning to conceive, during pregnancy and after their baby arrives.
· A review of birthing and parenting classes to make sure they meet the needs of men and offer practical advice about how to manage common problems such as sleep deprivation or intimate relationship changes.
· Health professionals to engage more with men and care for their needs as well as the mother and baby’s.
· Training for health professionals to offer more emotional support to men during fertility treatment or at times of loss.
· Parental leave and flexible work arrangements for fathers with uptake encouraged and modelled by leaders.
· Better tools to screen men for postnatal anxiety and depression.
Healthy Male (Andrology Australia) provides evidence-based health information on male reproductive and sexual health issues, and the chronic and related health issues associated with them, for men and health professionals.
