RIP Dan Vickerman
-
Former Wallabies, Brumbies, and Waratahs lock Dan Vickerman has died age 37. No real details yet, but fucking hell... Not a great little period this
-
AUSTRALIAN rugby is in shock after the sudden death of former Wallabies star Dan Vickerman.
The 37-year-old passed away on Saturday night. It’s believed there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.
He leaves behind a wife and two young children.
Former teammates who were told the news today have been left devastated.
Vickerman played 63 Tests for Australia between 2002 to 2011, including that year’s World Cup in which Australia made the semi-final.
He was forced to prematurely retire in 2012 due to persistent problems with stress fractures in his right leg.
AUSTRALIAN rugby is in shock after the sudden death of former Wallabies star Dan Vickerman.
The 37-year-old passed away on Saturday night. It’s believed there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.
He leaves behind a wife and two young children.
Former teammates who were told the news today have been left devastated.
Vickerman played 63 Tests for Australia between 2002 to 2011, including that year’s World Cup in which Australia made the semi-final.
He was forced to prematurely retire in 2012 due to persistent problems with stress fractures in his right leg.
In 2002 he made his debut for the Wallabies in Sydney against France, and the 204cm, 119kg giant became renowned as one of Australia’s toughest ever locks over the next decade.
At 28 and in the prime of his career, Vickerman quit the Waratahs, who he joined in 2004, and Wallabies to study a degree in Land Economics at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.
Upon his graduation in 2011, then Wallabies coach Robbie Deans immediately recalled him to the national side, such was his stature and ability.
Vickerman helped Australia win the Tri-Nations that year and played his final Test match in the semi-final defeat to the All Blacks in Auckland.
Vickerman had remained involved in the game as part of the Sydney Rugby Business Network and helping at Sydney University Rugby club until last year.
-
@KiwiMurph said in RIP Dan Vickerman:
What horrible news. Article i've read on Fox Sports referenced Lifeline at the bottom of the article....
He used to do work on Fox Sports News - seemed like a real nice guy.
The NZ Herald article has all the suicide helplines too.
Which of course means this death will soon not be reported any further.@NTA what about over in OZ? Are media there allowed to discuss deaths by suicide?
-
fark just saw this on the news!
as above, was one tough hombre on the field, RIP
-
@NTA said in RIP Dan Vickerman:
He leaves behind a wife and two young children.
That's desperately sad.
I wonder if rates of depression are higher among retired professional athletes.
-
@antipodean said in RIP Dan Vickerman:
@NTA said in RIP Dan Vickerman:
He leaves behind a wife and two young children.
That's desperately sad.
I wonder if rates of depression are higher among retired professional athletes.
Depression and suicide in athletes is often tied to CTE from concussion
-
The worst thing is, as long as suicide is a taboo topic, and no one is allowed to talk about it, it's going to keep happening.
The non-reporting of it makes it seem like it's an occasional, out of the blue thing. It's not. It's all too tragically frequent, and men make up a big number. Education, wealth, job history doesn't exclude anyone.
-
@Wurzel said in RIP Dan Vickerman:
It's not reported on so as not to inspire copycats. People - especially youth - read it and think it's a legitimate 'out' for issues they are battling.
That's what they say but I wonder if that is really true.
Anyway, RIP Dan.
-
@Wurzel said in RIP Dan Vickerman:
It's not reported on so as not to inspire copycats. People - especially youth - read it and think it's a legitimate 'out' for issues they are battling.
Funny then its not reported in NZ yet we still have the highest suicide rate in the western world.
Something clearly has to change, burying our heads in the sand wont change a thing.
The copycat argument is bullshit -
@Virgil said in RIP Dan Vickerman:
The copycat argument is bullshit
The NSW police used to explain how people met their ends in the gazette. They stopped doing that after a couple of people used the same novel technique. Including one who had clearly changed his mind, albeit a little too late.
-
@antipodean yea I read something a week or 2 back about 3 girls, made a pact to kill themselves, 1 did it, other 2 didnt, said they were never serious...
Seems to be alot of organisations trying to make people more aware of Suicide at the moment.
-
@Virgil A couple of years ago the media outlets in NZ got together and decided to report suicides, but that was only after the parents of one suicide victims asked media to report it. I think they now only report it if the family requests it, otherwise it's just the lifeline information at the end of the article.
