parragirl
Admin/Eels Moderator
Joined: 04 Feb 2007
Posts: 508
Location: Wollongong
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 Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 4:39 pm Post subject: League legend helping addicts |
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Steve Ella ... after four premierships this league legend is doing his best work off the field. Photograph: Angelo Soulas / The Daily Telegraph
By James Hooper | April 06, 2008 12:00am
THE innocuous, rickety green weatherboard cottage behind Gosford Hospital seems to understate the chilling realities the staff inside confront on a daily basis; drug addiction, alcoholism, broken homes.
This is where you will find Parramatta's Zip Zip man Steve Ella, only these days there's no more dodging and weaving from the Eels' symbol of flair and finesse in the 1980s, just a cold, hard dose of some of society's most confronting issues.
Detox, methadone clinics and profile assessments are all part of the daily ritual for Ella, a drug and alcohol counsellor for the Aboriginal community on the Central Coast. It's not exactly your typical punch in, punch out, nine-to-five then home to relax and put the feet up kind of existence.
And the humble, run-down office he works out of appears to misrepresent the magnitude of his work. But the Eels icon wouldn't change a thing.
"We see clients on heroin, speed, ice, cannabis, so we have a huge mixture of clients. Some of them mix drinking with that as well,'' Ella said.
"A lot of times you'll find the people who are in these situations are using to mask other tragedies that have happened in their lives. You see a lot of situations that are not normal. You see people who, by choice or by the cards they've been dealt, have become involved with drugs and alcohol.
"And in a lot of situations, when those two things are involved people's decision-making goes off.''
Blessed with elusive feet and nicknamed "the Zip Zip man'', Ella was one of the key components of the Parramatta outfit that claimed four premierships through the 1980s.
He toured with the Invincibles in 1982 and starred with UK superpowers Wigan before five shoulder reconstructions, five knee reconstructions and two wrist operations ended his career at Wakefield Trinity in 1989.
Having worked nine to five all his footballing career, Ella turned to life as a landscape gardener. Then in 1996, with arthritis starting to restrict him physically, counselling became his calling.
Some days Ella will visit clients in detox. Just sit and listen to how they are coping. Other days he will drive people to Gosford Hospital to enter the methadone program.
Despite a resume punctuated with rugby league accolades, he rates his current role more important than any of the feats he achieved on a football field.
"If my clients want to go into detox then I'll help them through that, I'll see them afterwards, I'll try and be there the entire time through the whole process,'' Ella said.
"I'll tell them, 'look, if you fail, so if you start to use again, it's not a major problem. We'll just start the process again'. From my perspective it's not about whether they fail or not. It's about it being their choice. Everything that we do is about the client's choice.''
Ella grew up in the Aboriginal community of La Perouse. There were no complaints in this childhood. Days were spent playing footy whenever he wanted or diving for abalone.
Life there gave Ella the perfect grounding for his current job - a keen understanding of the issues faced by indigenous people.
"I always wanted to work with Aboriginal people, but I didn't know in what capacity,'' Ella said. "When I first started I didn't know anything. But I've done a degree in Indigenous Health Promotion through Sydney Uni and I've done a range of other courses. Most of my work's been taught on the job. There's multiple issues that you have to deal with.
"From my perspective I've been lucky to do something that's very positive and also enjoyable. There's a lot of hard work and a lot of tough times, but it's definitely enjoyable and it benefits the community.
"To be successful in this sort of work you have to be able to talk to clients at their level. I'm lucky enough to be able to do that because I live at a community level, I grew up in an Aboriginal community and know the way of living.
"I can listen to their stories and relate to who they are. That sort of breaks the ice a little bit.''
These days Ella avoids pubs. He only ever sets foot in one to have a social drink with one of his children. But only a hermit could ignore the column space dedicated to NRL stars involved in booze-fuelled incidents. Ella gives them the benefit of the doubt.
"I feel sorry for these blokes these days because they get more media attention,'' Ella said. "If someone goes out and repeatedly offends then I'd have a look at what personal issues they've got. It may not be their fault.
"There's a lot of issues to consider. But there always just seems to be an attitude of blame the player.''
Some days Ella struggles to get out of bed. Yet unlike many of the clients he sees, it has nothing to do with substance abuse or depression.
"Sometimes the arthritis bites really hard and I'll struggle to walk. But if you asked me would I do it all over again for the sake of playing football, without a doubt,'' he said.
The world needs more people like Steve Ella.
http://www.news.com.au/dailyteleg.../0,26799,23489858-5012654,00.html
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