Win or lose, Sunday’s MLS Cup final between the LA Galaxy and New England Revolution will be Landon Donovan’s last game as a professional soccer player—and while that’s a shame for what he’s done on the field, it’s even sadder because of what he’s accomplished off it.
Donovan has already won five MLS Cups and is the league’s all-time top scoring and assist leader. Internationally, he has helped the United States win four CONCACAF Gold Cups, and has become universally regarded as the best American player of all time.
At 32, Donovan is playing some of his best soccer for the LA Galaxy, and still has plenty of gas left in the tank. But he has always been a different kind of athlete, a sensitive soul and well-rounded person who has never been fully defined by what he does on the pitch.
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And while all the league championships and individual honours are impressive, far more inspiring was the openness with which Donovan discussed how his battle with depression led him to taking a sabbatical from soccer between December 2012 to March 2013. In doing so, Donovan helped raise awareness of mental illness in sport.
“With depression, there’s no hiding from it,” says Jason deVos, a former captain of Canada’s national team. “In the brutal world of football—where every mistake you make is ridiculed, analyzed and mocked—it can be a very tough place to survive.”
“The more stories we hear of current and past players who are struggling with depression, the easier it is for others to come out and admit they have a problem. That’s why I have a world of respect for Donovan.”
Former Toronto FC coach Ryan Nelsen described soccer as an “an industry of alpha males” where some players struggle with the constant attention and pressure.
“It’s a high-pressure job,” Nelsen says. “Everybody knows your business, everybody critiques you, everybody watches you, and it affects people differently.”
You can just sense the rolling of eyes and the “pity the poor millionaire” scoffing whenever fans hear about athletes like Donovan suffering from depression.
We tend to sometimes forget that athletes experience a wide range of emotions and can have the same problems as the average person on the street. Money and fame isn’t a cure for mental illness. Depression can hit anybody, even soccer players who are looked up to by hordes of fans. Athletes are not the super heroes we sometimes build them up to be—they’re regular people who are not immune from battling depression.
“Fans might think it doesn’t happen in football, but the reality is it does, and we should be more aware of it,” Nelsen said.
“Every time (an athlete) reads something about themselves it affects them. Especially these days, I find it much worse, what with social media. You could hide in the shadows a bit in the past but not anymore, and that’s going to affect players.”
Nelsen raises an interesting point about social media. Thanks to Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, fans have increased access to athletes and a greater public forum to express their views.
Some abuse it, including the fan who tweeted “I hope your family dies in a fire” at Davy Arnaud last summer after the then-Montreal Impact player’s mistake late in the game led to a loss. The Impact and MLS filed a complaint with local police, who opened an investigation into the matter.
“Some of the things that are said and written on Twitter about athletes, it can be an incredibly callous medium,” deVos said.
The athletes themselves are just as much to blame for the stigma still attached to depression. Sebastian Deisler had a lot of injury problems during is career, but he also ended up being treated for depression because he couldn’t cope with locker room bullying at Bayern Munich. He endured further abuse when it came out in the news that he spent time in a mental health institution, and eventually retired at age 27.
“Any outward or perceived weakness will always be exploited—not just from opponents, but from your teammates,” deVos warned.
Even when a player retires, athletes can still suffer from depression and mental health issues. Now a soccer commentator with TSN, deVos had trouble making the transition to “normal life” after retiring as an active player in 2008. DeVos started seeing a counsellor who helped him make the adjustment.
“The transition from being a professional footballer to a regular guy is a very, very difficult one. It’s one that I struggled with and that I continue to struggle with every day. I talk to former teammates and they all tell the same story about the void being in your life when you are no longer a player, and how difficult it can be for you to find something to sink your energy and your competitiveness into,” deVos said.
“It’s the inner demons you deal with, the realization that you are no longer a footballer. When I retired, I had been a pro player for 18 years—more than half of my life. I didn’t know anything else. I was fortunate enough to move into the media and still be close to the game, while at the same time getting some help.”
Donovan will soon face the same predicament. But if his past history of dealing with depression is any indication, he’ll be able to tackle the challenge head on.