This tragedy is about #1 goal keeper Robert Enke. A loss like this is painful to all soccer fans. Suicide is so unexplainable. Mental illness is the uncureable illness. We have chemo for cancer, bypass for heart disease, but nothing to prevent suicides. Condolences to his family, friends, teammates and fans. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/8353733.stm http://www.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/football/11/10/football.germany.robert.enke/index.html
Seriously. First Charlie, then this. I know it seems trivial right now, but as the captain at Hanover I wonder if he'll bail out of the Slovakia camp to go be with his club teammates.
That is truly terrible news. I would just add, about mental illness being the "incurable" illness - that's not really the case. Which isn't to say anything neccessarily could have been done to prevent this, but one of the problems as far as treating mental illness is the stigma attached to it, wherein people don't neccessarily realise that it's just another form of sickness which has the potential to be cured like most disease. Most forms of mental illness are at least treatable. What makes suicide so terrible (other than the obvious) is it's very difficult to see warning signs beforehand if the person doesn't want you to. It's a terrible shock and a tragedy for all of his family and friends.
As USMNT fans, let's all remember to send our best wishes to the German Federation and the Enke family
this is sad story...tragedy for the whole German soccer.. thanks US fans that you also opened this thread and remembered ENKE. your friend bltleo News: from Spiegel: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,660579,00.html He was seen as the favorite to start in goal for Germany at the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. But on Tuesday evening, Robert Enke took his own life. He was one of Germany's best goalkeepers. But now, Robert Enke is dead. The 32-year-old national team player took his own life on Tuesday evening at a train crossing near Hanover, as his friend and advisor Jörg Neblung confirmed late Tuesday. "I can confirm that it was a case of suicide. Robert killed himself just before 6 p.m.," Neblung said in a short statement.
A soccer teammate of mine -- and a wonderful human being -- killed himself 11 years ago when one of his lows from depression went a little too low. I often think of him before I take the field in my rec league games as a way to honor his life. I am here and have the opportunity to enjoy this day and play in this game. Carpe diem. A tragedy for Germany. RIP Enke.
This is so incredibly sad. Heartfelt condolences to his wife and daughter, family, friends and teammates.
Obviously I didn't know Enke personally, but I would think he would want Cherundolo to stay with his national team and keep playing.
After the Davies accident, I was hoping to see a thread on this here. His poor widow after the baby and this - hopefully having all of Germany to lean on for support will help. For US related stuff, condolences to 'Dolo. I was also struck by the number of previous cases of depression altering the lives and careers of German footballers - is/has anything like that been an issue within the US ranks?
This is such a sad story, utterly tragic. I work with a colleague who suffers from depression & she wrote this poignant article about the tragedy. http://blogs.psychcentral.com/depression/2009/11/stigma-not-depression-killed-robert-enke/ I think the headline is spot on. My condolences & prayers with his family, friends, and all of Germany -- especially his widow, Teresa & young daughter Leila.
What an incredibly sad story this is. My heart goes out to Enke's family. As a previous poster alluded to, depression is an insidious disease of the mind just as there are diseases of other organs. Unfortunately, however, there is a stigma for those that have this disease to the point that they will not seek or delay treatment or will go to great lengths to hide their situation. In the better of these situations, time, careers and relationships are lost. In the worst of these, young lives like Enke's are lost. Often, the family members like Enke's wife have it the hardest. While he's alive, she may have to deal with someone who is entirely unlike the person she once knew. The tragedy becomes only more sick subsequent to his passing. There should be a thoughtful public campaign to educate the public and eradicate the prejudice associated with an organ attacking disease like any other.
it is sad story...i can not watch soccer right now..it makes me only sad.. this week i have a break from soccer... the friendly game of Germany against Chile was cancelled... it is good so.. i have never thought that depression is such a bad thing....´ well there is an example of Deisler who also suffered and had depression..but he said it in the public and stopped to play soccer...he talked about his problem in the public.. about Enke we have no idea that he had a depression..
And what happened afterwards? Deisler was accused of being whiny (even Beckenbauer said it), girlish, gay. Some teammates gave him female names. A famous politician called him a "losing deal" shortly after he ran away and went to a hospital. Comedians made fun of him. Maybe at least that will change after this tragedy.
there are medications which can deal with the chemical causes of mental stress, and i would suspect any national team has a phyciatrist on staff... enke did have abnormal stress in his life, so i would hope the federation would have been looking after him as a person, NOT just as a player.. the tragedy isn't about german soccer, but the person...
http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500014&tx_dfbnews_pi1[showUid]=20721&tx_dfbnews_pi4[cat]=56 They have one but he admits that he didn't notice it. Enke described himself as a happy person etc...
manic depression can have a lot of happy phases... i don't know the extent a team gets involved in the mental affairs of a person, but in american sport, i do know of at least ONE instance of an athlete being offered significant psychiatric help, his name is shawn andrews, who was a top notch player in american football, who had played the game his whole life because he was good, not because he liked it... it became evident to the eagles, andrews behavior was not healthy and normal, so they provide the best help they could... i suspect when BIG money enters any equation, a team should be looking for health, both mental and physical of it's employees...
This is truly a tragic situation. Condolences to his family and the German National Team. I have been following the story a bit on the new sites, as well as on BS, and I have to say that it is heartening to see that people are looking for positives to come out of this sad, sad event.
Eff soccer. I weep and pray for his wife, family, friends and fans. I hope and pray he's found the peace he couldn't find here. Sometimes there are no answers, and all we can do is to say, no SCREAM! screw this pathetic world! Weep, mourn, question, but please God help us find the strength somehow to carry on! All of us.