THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Still reeling from the suicide of Robert Enke, Germany captain Michael Ballack hopes the goalkeeper’s death provides a wake-up call to the football community to help players suffering from depression.
The 32-year-old Enke, who was set to go to the World Cup with Ballack next year, had been struggling with depression for six years before throwing himself in front of a train near his Hannover home earlier this month.
The Hannover captain hid his illness from doctors and teammates because he had been afraid his adopted eight-month-old daughter would be taken away from him if his condition was known. His biological daughter with wife Teresa died of a heart ailment in 2006 when she was 2.
“We have to learn from this,” Ballack told Saturday’s edition of Britain’s Independent newspaper. “There is the illness, but also the combination with football and being famous.
“He was scared to speak about his problem because he was scared to lose his child, or his job or to confess to having a weakness to other players. People have weaknesses, we should accept it.”
Ballack, who had known Enke for almost 20 years, said his international teammate successfully hid his depression.
“We never had the feeling that he had a problem like this,” the Chelsea midfielder said. “To not know that he had depression — that makes you feel helpless because you can’t change it. This is a bad, bad thing.
“On Tuesday evening (Nov. 10) when we got the message in the team hotel, it was a shock. There was quietness and a lot of tears.”