Ben Cunnington wasn’t always comfortable playing football in the AFL, and in many ways he still isn’t. For years the tough midfielder grappled with his move away from the family home in Princetown, south-west Victoria.
“I really struggled with homesickness the first couple of years in Melbourne, still do, and my career (at the time) not going as I had planned made it worse,” he wrote in a column for The Sunday Herald Sun.
To get through, he found an escape.
“As things got hard in Melbourne I turned to fishing to find answers and settle myself so I could escape the city life and concentrate on my footy,” Cunnington said.
“Fishing is a passion that started when I was three and a half years old back home with the old man, Alan, catching eels and got serious when Pop, Peter Edney, and I would go every weekend chasing Bream.”
The North Melbourne No.10 admits there have been times when his fishing obsession started to take over other aspects of his life, especially when he lashed out and bought a boat.
“I remember my family being nervous, thinking the boat might take my attention away from footy, but in hindsight, at the time it actually enhanced my focus,” he said.
“I was still trying to find my feet living in Melbourne, and as an AFL player, so fishing was a nice release from the mental side of footy.
“I'd go out fishing, get my fish and return to training or game day mentally fresh to play my role.
“To this day, fishing is my life. I can't get enough of it, I did struggle a bit with this whole virus thing and not being able to get out on the water … not a day goes by that I don’t think about it.”
After his football career is over, Cunnington leaves no doubt as to where he’d go with his wife, Belinda, and two children, Xavier and Stella; far away from the city.
“If I had the choice, I wouldn’t be here [in the city],” he said candidly.
“But I have settled a lot more now, having my own family. We live in Altona, a nice house with a big backyard – it is on the right side (of the city) to nip home to the country.
“We (Belinda and I) were brought up in the country, on dairy farms, in the fresh air, the world really is your oyster and you make your own fun.
“We had the best upbringing and want that for our children.
“They love it, which is great, Xavier and Stella want to go to the farm as much as they can, run around in the dirt and be free and not restricted.
“Becoming a father is the most special thing that has happened in my life. To be a father of two beautiful children and give them the best upbringing and opportunities they could ask for is what I live and strive for.”
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