On Saturday 6 August, Forrestdale Football Club held their Men’s Mental Health Round at William Skeet Oval, raising funds for mental health in support of The Shaka Project.

The Shaka Project aims to ignite the conversation about men’s mental health and crush the stigma around speaking up.

Sean Weir from The Shaka Project spoke to the club earlier this season about his struggles with mental health and how to encourage connection and ignite the conversation.

The club’s League and Reserves sides both wore a special jumper designed by current player and Vice President Sean Heron featuring the shaka which is used as a symbol of igniting the conversation.

The jumpers were auctioned off after the game with every single jumper being sold which saw over $15,000 raised in total for the day.

Forrestdale Football Club Secretary Marika Glover said, “We did a mental health workshop back in June with Sean Weir from The Shaka Project and it ignited a lot of conversations between our playing groups which was amazing to see.”

“The shaka jumpers worn on the weekend not only looked amazing but for me it was when a couple of the boys threw up a shaka in the air when they kicked a goal that made me so proud.”

“As a club we are so pleased we can support mental health and we plan to invest in these beneficial workshops for our players in future.”