In Australia, sport is more than a pastime — it’s a rite of passage. Whether it’s backyard games, local competitions, or cheering from the couch, sports have long shaped how we define strength, resilience, and masculinity.
From an early age, boys learn to associate manhood with physical dominance and emotional control. You keep your head down, tough it out, and never show weakness — because the professionals on TV don’t. But as we recognise Men’s Health Week 2025, with themes like “Shoulder-to-Shoulder: Connecting for Health” and “See Your GP,” it’s time to challenge these narrow definitions of strength and explore how sport — and the way we watch and celebrate it — plays a powerful role in shaping men’s health culture.
The Spectacle of Toughness: What We Learn from Watching
Professional sport often centres around high-intensity moments of power, endurance, and stoicism. We see athletes play through pain, shake off hits, hide their emotions, and carry the weight of competition with apparent ease. When players push through, keep quiet, or dominate physically, we cheer. We admire their “mental toughness.”
But beneath the spectacle is a problem: this image of strength, broadcast and applauded again and again, becomes a blueprint for masculinity. It sends a message — not just to aspiring athletes, but to all men — that real strength means staying silent, pushing through, and never asking for help.
This message doesn’t just affect how boys play sports — it affects how men show up in life. The pressure to appear strong and unaffected leads many to suppress emotion, avoid vulnerability, and isolate when things get hard. And while it might build perseverance, it also builds risk — for depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicide.
Teamwork and Connection: What Real Strength Looks Like
The irony is, sport also thrives on connection. No win happens alone. Behind every great performance is a team — people communicating, supporting, adjusting, and lifting one another up.
That’s the heart of this year’s “Shoulder-to-Shoulder” message: that strength isn’t isolation — it’s connection. Off the field, that might mean opening up to a mate, checking in on someone who’s struggling, or being vulnerable enough to say, “I’m not okay.”
These are not acts of weakness. They are signs of deep courage, maturity, and emotional intelligence — the kind of resilience that lasts long after the final siren.
See Your GP: Don’t Wait for the Crisis
In elite sport, injuries are managed early, with structured recovery and proactive support. In everyday life, men often wait until something breaks — physically or emotionally — before getting help.
This Men’s Health Week, “See Your GP” encourages men to view their wellbeing the same way an athlete would: something worth protecting, maintaining, and tuning up. Regular check-ins with your doctor, even for stress, sleep, or mood changes, can make all the difference.
Changing the Game
Sport has long influenced how we understand strength — and while there’s value in grit, discipline, and physical resilience, it’s time to expand the playbook.
Let’s keep celebrating the elite skill, passion, and power we see in sport — but let’s also celebrate emotional honesty, support-seeking, and mental fitness.
