Roman Kemp: ‘compassion And Connection At The Heart Of Football Can Help Prevent Suicide’

“I spell to shot each week, each my life. Home, away, England away, each of it,” says Roman Kemp. “And location is thing astir it that is transcendent. It almost feels for illustration belief to me. Like if you spell connected vacation and you spell into a church, moreover if it’s empty, you tin consciousness nan power it’s sewage successful there. A shot stadium is nan same.”

Kemp, nan benignant of Gooner who performs his ain statistical study of Arsenal’s play (“I look astatine nan convention and I do a side-by-side comparison of points gained, points lost”), brings to his passion for shot nan aforesaid all-encompassing enthusiasm that has made him a prima of TV, power and podcasting. And he believes that nan game, and its unsocial spot successful society, tin play an important domiciled successful addressing different taxable adjacent to his heart: suicide.

On Wednesday nan Premier League is launching an initiative, Together Against Suicide, which seeks to bring attraction to nan taxable and amended item nan support disposable to group who acquisition suicidal thoughts. It will activity online and successful grounds, wherever 11 clubs will proceedings spaces for group to entree information. This is nan fruition of a scheme devised by Kemp and his friend nan Tottenham main executive, Vinai Venkatesham (they met earlier he near Arsenal), and a strategy he believes “puts compassion and relationship astatine nan bosom of shot and thing I really judge will make a quality to nan fans that request it”.

Kemp’s champion friend, Joe Lyons, who was nan shaper of Kemp’s Capital Radio meal show, took his ain life successful 2020. The pursuing year, still during nan pandemic, Kemp made a BBC documentary astir nan acquisition and utilized it arsenic a springboard to research really young men dealt pinch intelligence wellness issues astatine a clip erstwhile they were skyrocketing. Along nan measurement Kemp revealed he had been diagnosed pinch objective slump arsenic a teen and had knowledgeable suicidal thoughts.

“I ever opportunity slump lives wrong everyone and immoderate group conscionable woody pinch it better,” nan One Show big says. “Mental wellness is simply a surviving point that lasts passim nan entirety of our lives. It’s thing that you’re conscionable perpetually trying to get amended at.”

Roman Kemp (centre) pinch his champion friend and workfellow Joe Lyons (left) who took his ain life successful 2020. Photograph: David M Benett/Getty Images

Kemp points to nan statistic that show termination is nan biggest slayer of men nether nan property of 50 successful nan UK, and that this demographic is to beryllium recovered successful plentiful proviso astatine shot matches. He believes location needs to beryllium a displacement successful reasoning beyond a elemental connection of “talk astir your intelligence health” to helping group to find nan correct benignant of support. His purpose and dream is that nan caller strategy allows group pinch suicidal thoughts to understand amended what thief is disposable and possibly person nan important first speech pinch personification who tin help.

“Something that I person learned on nan measurement is that erstwhile personification makes that first conversation, erstwhile they say: ‘I deliberation I request immoderate thief here,’ nan likelihood of taking their ain life drops significantly,” he says. “It’s being capable to person a due speech pinch personification that tin show you nan reality of nan business you are in.

“I’ve been successful nan business wherever I’ve had intelligence breakdowns, I’ve had suicidal thoughts, I’ve been astatine vulnerable points. And erstwhile personification conscionable breaks it down for you and erstwhile personification is location conscionable to calm you down, to make you realise that you’re OK, nan alteration is massive. You past know, OK, if I person that thought again, I tin spell backmost to that spot and I tin do it.”

Kemp is nan boy of Spandau Ballet’s Martin Kemp. He speaks good connected nan topic, nan privilege and preconceptions of being a nepo babe and nan visible desire he has to beryllium himself (on his caller domiciled arsenic a Sky Sports presenter he says he is “fully aware” that group will beryllium asking: “Why is Martin Kemp’s kid fronting a shot show?”). Perhaps unexpectedly, however, he has go successful his ain correct an ambassador for nan taxable of suicide, different position that tin beryllium challenging to hold.

“If there’s a crippled that I can’t spell to, I’ll beryllium successful nan pub watching,” he says, “and a regular, normal point is for personification to travel up to maine and say: ‘Roman, I tried to termination myself past week.’ It’s intense, but I benignant of signed up to it. I’m not a doctor, though, and I effort ne'er to springiness advice. I ever opportunity they request to find personification proper.”

Together Against Suicide is 1 measurement towards making that travel easier and, Kemp hopes, thing that helps to trim stigma astir nan subject. “Every clip personification comes up to maine and talks to maine astir suicide, nan No 1 point they do is they rima it, they go: ‘Oh, you talk astir …’ And I’m like: ‘What, suicide?’ And they nod. It’s nan biggest slayer successful our world, successful our demographic, and we can’t moreover opportunity it. So it’s astonishing to maine that nan connection termination is now going to beryllium retired there, arsenic large arsenic possible. This programme is not called thing other that conscionable looks for illustration intelligence health. I deliberation that’s nan biggest point that I’ve learned actually, it’s astir normalising nan word.”

Kemp says nan champion motto for nan strategy he had heard was devised by his mother (Shirlie Kemp, erstwhile of nan 80s popular duo Pepsi & Shirlie) who said that clubs should spot it arsenic giving thing back. “Every week we inquire for your support, truthful don’t beryllium acrophobic to inquire for ours”, was her phrase. This is logic that Kemp believes tin clasp much broadly and he returns to nan thought that nan communal acquisition of shot commands an authority fewer different places tin match. “Football holds nan biggest spot successful my heart, it’s nan changeless successful my life,” he says. “I conscionable consciousness for illustration it’s truthful untapped arsenic a community. It doesn’t cognize conscionable really overmuch of a quality it tin make.”