Abstract
Over the past few decades men’s health has generated increasing research attention in response to growing concerns for men’s poor health outcomes. In particular, higher incidences of suicide, substance use, and aggression are often reported in men and yet their utilisation of health services continues to be significantly lower compared to females. Substantial research has highlighted potential barriers to men seeking help for both their physical and mental health. Conforming to some notions of masculinity, stigma and low mental health literacy are a few commonly noted barriers to men seeking support for their mental health. Team sport has been suggested as beneficial to wellbeing in a number of ways such as increased self-esteem, social support and lower levels of anxiety and depression. This study aimed to investigate men’s experiences of team sport and the impact this had on their wellbeing in order to better understand where men may be gaining support for their mental health. Seventeen men with experience of playing a variety of team sports were interviewed exploring aspects of team sport that influenced their wellbeing. Thematic analysis was adopted to draw three themes from the data including escapism, coping with the loss of sport and bromance and banter: masculinities in action. Analysis demonstrated that team sport plays an important role in men’s lives and the benefits on men’s wellbeing are multifaceted. Findings offer support that consideration of gender-specific community interventions may be beneficial in offering accessible mental health support for men.