Cricket suicides

[Pratters]

David Frith, the well known author, had written this book on the subject

http://www.fetchbook.co.uk/reviews.do;jsessionid=B1C55B86D58322C17AE787F0DBCF6D56?search=184018406X

It shows the suicide rate in cricket is more than in any other sport. Most in South Africa with an alarming 4 percent. This is involving all cricket including club cricket etc. More than 140 players have committed suicide over the last century.

A 10 minute thing came on tv about this. The attention span required in cricket extends over long periods of time. One mistake and you lose your wicket. Then you get time to get frustrated about it over the next three days.

My take - There is also huge competition for places and times when you are battng well and not getting the chances. I have personally met a few domestic players who seem very frustated after being dropped from the Indian team. And this is a good few years after being dropped. I meet players when they come to play for domestic matches and some are indeed in a bad state.

Would really like to get this book. Just for the perspectives of Frith.

 

[bryce]

i wonder if any occurred after getting a bad decision

 

[Jono]

I was totally unaware of that fact. Sad that that is the case.

 

[Slats4ever]

just coincidence i reckon

 

[James90]

Quite a few people have been killed during a game when the batsman hits the bowler over the head with a cricket bat

 

[Mr Casson]

Quite a few people have been killed during a game when the batsman hits the bowler over the head with a cricket bat

I'm surprised no one was killed today by Travis Birt's six that went clean out of the ground! That was one hell of a hit, and it would have been on any ground. Sort of validates the claims by whichever council it was in Victoria that said they had to ban sixes, because they are dangerous to the public.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I haven't read it, but Frith is one of the very best out there. I've read two of his: "Bodyline Autopsy" & "The Fast Men". Both good reads.

It would be interesting to know how many of the suicides were by retired or about-to-retire players. My guess is that because of the very nature of the first-class game (played over days, rather than the coupla hours for most team sports) it's a huge adjustment to make. You might miss the craic with your team mates or simply feel your whole raison d’etre has gone.

Interesting topic.

 

[Craig]

I'm surprised no one was killed today by Travis Birt's six that went clean out of the ground! That was one hell of a hit, and it would have been on any ground. Sort of validates the claims by whichever council it was in Victoria that said they had to ban sixes, because they are dangerous to the public.

Which is silly because you go to a cricket ground and/or play cricket you know what you are getting yourself into that you may get hit), and it should be the person's responsibility to keep an eye out on the ball.

A similar thing happened to me once (not at a game but in a nets session) and the only person's fault was my own for not paying attention to where the ball may be going.

 

[SJS]

It could also have to do with cricketer's ruining their marriages due to long absences from home/family and then the problems resulting from it !

 

[BoyBrumby]

It could also have to do with cricketer's ruining their marriages due to long absences from home/family and then the problems resulting from it !

Good point too. Graham Thorpe's marital problems were something of a saga in the (spits on floor) British tabloids two or three years back.

Be interesting to see how the divorce rate amongst cricketers compares to, say, footballers or Rugby players.

 

[Craig]

You would think footballers divorce rates would probably be higher considering they play almosy 12 months of the year. Especially those are South American and play in Europe.

 

[marc71178]

Footballers don't go off on Tours so much though really.

 

[Slow Love™]

I think I remember reading about this a while ago. It seemed that many players were committing suicide after their careers had ended - most often when they perceived they'd been forced into retirement. Mike Brearley commented on it, IIRC.

I think one of the statistics mentioned was that a British cricketer (professional) was about twice as likely to suicide as the average British citizen.

I have a few doubts about this though - comparing cricket players to the entire population stats can be misleading. Comparing them to other professional sportsmen can definitely be a good indicator though.

 

[Pratters]

I have a few doubts about this though - comparing cricket players to the entire population stats can be misleading. Comparing them to other professional sportsmen can definitely be a good indicator though.

He did compare to the boxers for this particlar reason and found the cricketer's rates to be far higher.

 

[Slow Love™]

He did compare to the boxers for this particlar reason and found the cricketer's rates to be far higher.

Yeah, I know. I'm still a little sceptical about how significant it is, because the total amount of suicides over 100 years is only 140 people. That's actually a tiny group to extrapolate from. It may still be more than have done so from some other sports, but there are just so many professions out there that would have much larger suicide rates. I'm not sure that I'd classify it as a remarkable phenomenon.

 

[Adamc]

That 4% suicide rate in South Africa seems a little remarkable to me. That's 1 in 25, which would suggest that in an average cricket match in South Africa one of the players involved will commit suicide eventually! Seems a little high given the number of players who would have played cricket at club level or higher in South Africa in the last century.

 

[Langeveldt]

Yeah 4% does seem high..

I reckon the high rate could partly be due to the types of people that cricket quite commonly attracts.. On the whole i reckon there are more shy/withdrawn people playing who would be prone to keeping their feelings bottled up instead of doing something about them.. Which in the end can prove lethal.

 

[Richard]

The tragic case of Mark Saxelby (anyone else remember that?) was the one that first highlighted this in my eyes...
It's definately a sad trait.
Most of the reasons have already been suggested, though... must try to get hold of Mr. Frith's latest volume...

 

[Slow Love™]

That 4% suicide rate in South Africa seems a little remarkable to me. That's 1 in 25, which would suggest that in an average cricket match in South Africa one of the players involved will commit suicide eventually! Seems a little high given the number of players who would have played cricket at club level or higher in South Africa in the last century.

This is what makes me sceptical. The amount of players that have suicided across all nations (at least, those mentioned) over the entire century is 140. Let's be really generous and say that half those deaths - 75 - occurred in South Africa.

For this to account for 4% of cricketers meeting the criteria given, only 1875 players would ever have played club cricket and above over the entire century in South Africa. Does that sound accurate to you? And if I'm less generous about how many of the 140 died in South Africa, the figure will get even lower.

I think that the small number of deaths (140) is causing too much of an extrapolation.

 

[Slow Love™]

From reading further, another issue is that the author seems to have left Asia out of his study (I'm not sure if the West Indies were included or not). Would this drag the percentages up, or down? They play an awful lot of cricket on the subcontinent. A focus on Anglo countries (at least, in terms of who's predominantly played the game in the countries he's mentioned - Australia, NZ, England and South Africa) suggests that far more may be at play than just cricket.

I don't have anything against such a finding - I'd probably just think "wow, that's heavy". I'm just not convinced that such a small number of deaths over the course of a century can tell us a great deal, particularly when whole swathes of cricket playing peoples are not included in the study.