Widnes referee who has suffered homophobic abuse backs mental health campaign
'Tackle the Tough Stuff' aims to encourage fans to take care of one another
A Widnes-born referee who has been subject to horrific homophobic abuse is joining a campaign to encourage fans to take care of one another.
'Tackle the Tough Stuff' aims to spread the message of 'in a world where you can be anything, choose to be kind.'
Last year, Marcus Griffiths shared some of the vile messages he received online.
The campaign is in memory of the late Rob Burrow and takes inspiration from the support given to Rob by his wife, Lyndsey, and best friend Kevin Sinfield.
He said:
"The campaign is massively important. From an officiating point of view, it's difficult. Mental health is massively important and as a department and through time, we have had some catastrophies.
"Years ago, one of my good friends committed suicide. It's only by talking about the stuff can attitudes change so that we can end up in a situation where it's no longer a taboo to talk about your mental health or what you may or may not receive online.
"Referees are great actors. On a a rugby pitch, we've got to persuade people we're right, when at times we can be wrong. At times, you won't be able to persuade people you've got something right. One of the biggest red flags that we have is that we're so good at it, we don't want our family to witness us in a bad place, we don't want our colleagues at work to witness us in a bad place and sometimes it's just about dropping that wall and accepting that you might need help, you might need somebody to talk to - whether that's a teammate, whether that's someone from a completely different department, which I often find easier because you're not competing.
"The support is for everybody"
"As soon as you start putting competition into it, you don't want to appear weak and I know that sounds horrific, but talking to somebody who hasn't got any competitive interest can sometimes help.
"The 'Be More Rob' and 'Be More Kev' could not be more important. Be willing to put your arm around a friend and say 'are you OK?' Be willing to go that extra mile for a friend. The support is for everybody.
"If you look at them two as friends - what they did for the sport and for each other was amazing and if people could be a bit more Kev and a bit more Rob, I think we would be in a better place."
On the abuse Marcus has received, he added:
"I don't believe things have changed from people still delivering abuse, however, the support and the sport actively saying that it isn't appropriate and this isn't acceptable is now clearer than ever.
"The fact there was such an outpouring (of support) at the time shows to those individuals that you're not welcome in this sport anymore. Through the abuse, we're ending up in a nice place as such.
"It's very much in the stand - do you want your child or your loved ones stood next to somebody who is either being racist, homophobic, misogynist? I would suggest that you don't.
"We did some training at work the other week, active bystander training. If you hear it, if you think 'I'm not too sure about that', you won't be the only one in the stand that thinks that.
"As soon as one person speaks up, all the other people who have the same beliefs as you - who just don't shout about it - will help you out and will support you."