There are a million places you could start with Harrison Devenish-Meares, but it’s pretty hard to go past the nickname. The taunt that he has turned into a badge of honour.
Some genius, somewhere in the dark corners of the internet, came up with it during his rocky first season as Sydney FC goalkeeper, and it took on a life of its own: ‘Sevenish Beers.’
As in, he played like he’d had that many. And they weren’t middies.
It’s hard to find a crueller moniker in Australian sport – especially since, from the available evidence, it was coined by a Sydney FC fan – and it could have easily overwhelmed a different player with a more brittle mindset. Not this bloke.
“I loved it from the beginning,” Devenish-Meares said.
“OK, it’s a negative nickname, but at the same time, I always dreamed to play in front of fans, and I always dreamed of that kind of a life … you’ve got to take the good side of that and the bad side.
“I almost felt like to have a nickname that was popular and funny and actually kind of witty … I don’t know, I thought it was a cool thing. I hope it still gets used – in a good way, or in a bad way. Like, whatever.”
It’s only in a good way, these days.
‘Sevenish Beers’ is no longer a human punchline, but a measure of one of the great turnarounds in A-League history – one that has Devenish-Meares on the cusp of World Cup selection for the Socceroos.
Had you suggested at any point last season that the 29-year-old was a genuine contender for the national team, you would have been laughed at. Not even Sydney FC’s decision-makers would have believed you; they gave the No.1 jersey this season to Gus Hoefsloot, a young goalkeeper tipped for big things, who was supposed to become their first choice. That hasn’t happened because the incumbent didn’t let it.
‘You feel like you’re having a psychotic break.’
Harrison Devenish-Meares on meditating for 16 hours per day at an Indonesian retreat
Devenish-Meares’ performances have been undeniable, cementing him as not only the club’s but the competition’s top gloveman, helping push the Sky Blues to within one game of another grand final appearance, as they prepare to meet premiers Newcastle Jets in the second leg of their semi-final on Saturday night.
Where has this version of himself come from, all of a sudden? He mostly attributes it to a couple of converging forces: a natural progression in his second season in the A-League, having grown more comfortable with the level, blended with the fact he now sits behind a vastly improved defence.
There’s another contributing factor, which may have helped, a humbling experience he underwent last year, deep in the Indonesian jungle, although he reckons it’s impossible to say if it has.
“I could do the same thing and have a shit season,” he said.
But he’s had a great season, and it helps explain why he’s so mentally robust, so we figure it must have played a part.
Devenish-Meares spent a week of his off-season break – almost half of his allotted leave – at a Buddhist monastery, having taken a vow of silence.
Within four days of finding out about this strange retreat, he was there, living it.
For 16 hours of each day, he sat in a meditation hall, surrounded by others but alone with his thoughts. Communication was strictly prohibited, in all its forms: not just talking, but gesturing and eye contact, too.
“You feel like you’re having a psychotic break,” he said.
“Day three, the things that your mind is coming up with to occupy itself … if you imagine your mind as a whole, every hour of meditation, it’s kind of like taking surgical scalp and you’re cutting away a layer. And when you cut away that layer, it starts erupting with all kinds of thoughts and intrusive material. It’s exploding, it’s bleeding, and then after a while it kind of subsides and relaxes – and then the next time, you cut another layer.
“You’re facing a lot of submerged feelings, emotions, thoughts – like things from my childhood that I haven’t thought of in 20 years, scenes from movies I haven’t seen in years, choruses of songs playing over and over and over again in my head, and you can’t get them to stop. The brain learns to just sit still.
“I think on the fourth day, it was just completely quiet and peaceful – but up until the fourth day, man, it was so, so hard.”
When he left, one of the instructors told him something that has stayed with him: “People search all over the place for paradise. They want to go spend holidays and enjoy those holidays in beautiful places. What if going through this experience, you learn that paradise exists within you, and you can go there whenever you want?”
Meditation has been part of Devenish-Meares’ life since he was about 15 years old, when he would peel away from the rest of the schoolyard to sit with his own thoughts for a while. It was self-medication.
“I was a really hyperactive kid,” he said.
“I just realised that when I started doing it, I stopped kind of saying things I regretted, and acting in ways that I regretted. I’d say stupid things or get into arguments or fights with people, and I just felt like I was able to steady my own character in ways that I wanted it to kind of be.
“Obviously, it took on a very new kind of level this year, just because after last season, I was super overstimulated. I would pack my days off with all kinds of stuff to do and never really felt satisfied, like it was never enough, so I did the silent retreat … and then after that, just doing daily practice, I feel like I am able to act in ways that are consistent with the values that I want.”
Devenish-Meares had a “pretty funky” group of friends at school, some of whom have gone on to become professional musicians, artists and comedians, and in that company, such alternative ideas were encouraged, not suppressed.
His football career has unfolded accordingly, off the beaten path. Having chosen to bypass the local system after figuring there was a developmental bottleneck he couldn’t squeeze through, he went to college in the United States, spent time in America’s lower leagues, then two seasons in Romania before returning home to play in the NSW NPL, and eventually finding his way into the A-League in his late 20s.
Whatever he’s been doing, it’s been working for him on the pitch, and important people have noticed. In March, he was asked to be a train-on player with the Socceroos. It wasn’t a full call-up, but more of a chance for coach Tony Popovic and his staff to feel him out, and for him to see if he could adjust to the environment. That didn’t make it any less special – and whatever he did there worked too, because most informed judges say he’s now in a three-way shootout with Patrick Beach and Joe Gauci to be Australia’s third goalkeeper at the World Cup.
“When I got given the training kit, the first thing I did was stand in the mirror and with it on, and just look at myself in the mirror and say like, ‘Holy shit,’” he said.
“Not like ‘Look how far you’ve come,’ but, I don’t know … there was a nice moment. I just tried to go in there and learn as much as I could, and obviously try and leave an impression.
“I think the last years have told me: if it’s meant for you, it’ll probably find you.”
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