Prince William and David Beckham put heads together as mental well-being takes centre stage at Wembley

Robert Jobson27 July 2020

Prince William on Monday spoke of his pride at the strides being taken by professional football to embrace his mental well-being campaign.

The Duke of Cambridge hailed the progress made as he held an online “summit” with some of football’s biggest names, including former England captain David Beckham, to highlight the pressures on players.

Their conversation followed the announcement today that all levels of the English game have signed a joint declaration committing to make mental health a key priority as a legacy of William’s Heads Up programme.

It comes before Saturday’s FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Chelsea at Wembley, which has been named after the campaign.

The Duke, who is president of the Football Association, said: “We’ve managed to get the entire football community to sign up to promoting and showing how important mental health is in football and therefore in society through fans and things like that.

“That’s shown real leadership that we’ve got the Heads Up FA Cup Final renamed. This season — bearing in mind with the pandemic it’s obviously been a football season like no other — it’s come at quite a timely moment to have this campaign and this kind of culture declaration going on at a time where I think the country — not just football but the world — is probably going to have some quite serious repercussions with mental health.

PA

“It’s quite a timely reminder and a pivotal moment in showing everyone that mental health really matters. I’m looking forward to seeing how football continues to lead the way and set that example.”

As well as Beckham, William also welcomed England and Manchester City Women’s captain Steph Houghton, Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings, Crystal Palace midfielder Andros Townsend and former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti.

William pressed Beckham, 45, on how his notorious sending off in the 1998 World Cup match against Argentina had affected his confidence at such a young age. Beckham, then aged 23, kicked out at Diego Simeone, weakening his side’s chances with England eventually crashing out of the competition on penalties.

Years of abuse followed the incident, with Beckham vilified and an effigy burned outside a London pub. He said: “I made a mistake and the reaction at the time was brutal. I was constantly criticised on the pitch verbally. Times have changed. If social media was around when I was going through that time it would have been a whole different story.

“But I was lucky. I had a support system in Manchester United and with the manager and family, but did I feel at the time it was okay to say ‘I need help’? I would say no, no, it was a different era and I just felt I had to keep it all in and deal with it myself.”

The Manchester United legend added: “When I was playing, stakes were high, but I don’t think they were as high as they are now. That’s why I feel that what you’ve done, what you’ve created and what is happening here is so important.

“It’s okay to not be okay — and I think back in the day it wasn’t — it wasn’t okay to have a problem.”

Mings, 27, broke into the national side this season, capping off a remarkable turnaround from having his career almost ended from a horror injury in his first Premier League game in 2015.

The defender, who has previously said he “didn’t want to do anything to get my knee better and didn’t want to talk to anyone” as he slumped into depression, revealed he changed his attitude by admitting his mental health was at risk and speaking to a sports psychologist.

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