Former Wallabies captain David Pocock, 34, has often spoken out on issues other than rugby. Today, the environmental activist is a candidate for the Senate. His wife Emma, 34, runs an association helping athletes take action on the climate.
David and Emma Pocock: “At first Emma wasn’t convinced I was running for the Senate, but we had many conversations and decided it was worth it.”Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
David: I met Emma in Perth in 2009 through a friend. They organized workshops in schools around conflict management and non-violence. He arranged to meet us at a school where I had been a rugby coach. When we went to the canteen for lunch, Emma said, “What are you doing? I said, “Oh, I play a little rugby” and she said, “So what do you do for a job?” I said, “I play a little rugby.”
I found her interesting and we had similar values, even though we came from different backgrounds. With three boys in my family, life was chaotic. There would be 10 different outdoor activities a day and then more sports. In Emma’s family, a great day consisted of going for a walk, reading books and then doing a puzzle.
I would be lying if I said it was love at first sight. We first became friends but, over time, I realized, wow, she’s amazing. In 2010 we had what I assume was a wedding, with lots of friends and family, at a local park in Perth. But we didn’t want to sign papers when some of our friends didn’t have the same right. It was just a personal statement at the time, but as the marriage equality debate intensified, the media saw it as newsworthy.
We both grew up in fairly conservative Christian families and I’m grateful for the grounding it gave me, the sense of community, going to church as a kid. We tried to honor some of that tradition at the ceremony. [They married again, officially, in 2018.]
“We didn’t want to sign papers when some of our friends didn’t have the same right.”
From a very young age, I wanted to play rugby at the highest level. When I had to miss the 2013-2014 season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament, I was horrible to be there, especially when it happened a second time. I had done nine months of rehabilitation and I felt good. Then, a few games into the new season, I did the exact same thing, the same knee, and had a little seizure. It’s like you’ve done all the right things; why do these bad things happen? You are forced to face the reality that they just do. All you can control is how you react. Realizing this was a real game changer for me and probably helped our relationship.
Em was amazing. She researched rehab and diet and supported me through the process. Individual success is the biggest myth. Anyone who achieves this will likely have a few people who will make sacrifices to help them get there.
Initially, she wasn’t convinced that I was running for the Senate. [as an independent in the ACT]. She knows how grueling it is – and she’s busy with her job running FrontRunners – but we had a lot of conversations and decided it was worth it; an opportunity to contribute to the community and improve our democracy.
