Topic: R.I.P. Robert Enke: German goalkeeper committed suicide

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/83539...

Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke, who committed suicide on Tuesday, had battled depression for six years.
Enke, 32, was struck by a train at a level crossing near his Hanover home. He had left a suicide note.
His widow Teresa said he lived in fear that their adopted daughter Leila would be removed from them if her husband's depression became public knowledge.
The couple adopted the eight-month-old in May having lost their biological daughter Lara in 2006 aged two.
Lara died of a rare heart condition, and Enke struggled to overcome his bereavement.
Teresa Enke said: "I tried to be there for him, said that football is not everything. There are many beautiful things in life. It is not hopeless.

Robert was a wonderful man, who had to cope with several blows of fate
Theo Swanziger, president of German football federation
"We had Lara, we have Leila. I always wanted to help him to get through it. He didn't want it to come out because of fear. He was scared of losing Leila."
Teresa and Enke's psychologist Dr Valentin Markser appeared at Hannover's AWD-Arena this afternoon to explain the background to his death.
Earlier, German journalist Alexander Bleick told BBC Radio 5 live: "Robert spent a long time with his wife in the hospital and [Lara's death] was a very sad moment for him.
"A year ago he and his wife adopted a little girl and everyone thought he would be fine again, but as far as we know he had suffered depression for a long time and was taken off training for several weeks in the past month at Hannover.
"Doctors worked with him to get his confidence back but it seems they didn't manage to do it."
Enke's agent said the player had committed suicide, and police spokesman Stefan Wittke, while declining to reveal where the note was found, said all evidence pointed to suicide.
"There is no evidence that would raise doubts about a suicide," Wittke said.
Police said the Hanover 96 captain's car, parked metres away from the tracks, was unlocked with his wallet still inside.

Fans flocked to his club's Niedersachsen Stadium overnight to lay flowers and light candles at the gates in memory of their captain, who joined them in 2004. Hundreds more queued on Wednesday morning to sign an official book of condolence.
Hannover 96 removed all links to their regular website content, replacing them with a black page showing the simple words "Wir trauern um Robert Enke" ("We are mourning Robert Enke").
Germany's friendly against Chile on Saturday may be postponed. When asked about such a possibility, the general secretary of the German national federation, Wolfgang Niersbach, said: "It's hard to say anything at this point in time. We have to collect our thoughts. It's terrible, we are stunned."
Enke was not in the squad for the match, having recently recovered from a virus, but many expected him to be the number one goalkeeper for the 2010 World Cup.
The German Football League has announced a minute's silence will be held at grounds ahead of the next round of the top two divisions of the Bundesliga for the weekend of 21-22 November, with all players wearing black armbands.
Germany's 1974 World Cup winner Franz Beckenbauer told Bild newspaper: "I feel endless loss and sorrow. When you receive news such as this, all other problems seem small."
Theo Zwanziger, president of the national federation, said: "Robert was a wonderful man, who had to cope with several blows of fate."
Oliver Bierhoff, the German football team's general manager, said: "We are all shocked. We are lost for words."
Germany cancelled a planned training session and all interviews scheduled for Wednesday.

Enke started his career at Carl Zeiss Jena and club spokesman Andreas Trautmann said: "The right words don't exist for such a tragedy. We are shocked and our thoughts are with Robert's family. They have our heartfelt sympathies."
Jena, now in the German third division, will open a condolence book for Enke, with the intention that it will be passed on to his family.
The death caused shockwaves across Europe, at the various clubs where the goalkeeper had plied his trade.
Enke's former team-mate at Portuguese club Benfica, Nuno Gomes, told the club's website: "I find it hard to believe that he has died. It is a tremendous loss for world football, the loss of a man of rare qualities in our time. It is very sad news.
"I remember how he was just a young kid when he came here but, from day one, he made a great effort to learn our language and did it very quickly. He was a young kid with a huge desire to reach his goals and learn, a man with a capital M."
The club's current goalkeeper Moreira added: "I am shocked. All the memories I have are good ones. As a professional, he was one of the best to pass through Benfica and he learned to speak Portuguese in three months.
"If it was not for [Tuesday's] tragic accident, I'm sure he would have played in the World Cup."

The thoughts of all football fans should be with his family at this awful time
AdamLeedsUnited
The two Spanish clubs Enke played for, CD Tenerife and Barcelona, paid their condolences to his family.
Kevin Kuranyi, a striker for Schalke 04, told Bild: "It really can't and should not be true. Robert was such a great person. I don't know how I should tell my wife, she is good friends with Robert's wife. I feel for his family."
The German national federation posted a range of further tributes to the player:

• Christian Wulff (Prime Minister of Lower Saxony): "Germany loses an exceptional athlete and a very compassionate man. He was a role model."
• Michael Vesper (General Director of the National Olympic Committee): "I am shaken to the core. Our thoughts are with his family. This is a tragedy."
• Martin Kind (President of Hannover 96): "An absolute catastrophe, which I still cannot grasp."
• Ewald Lienen (former coach of Robert Enke with Hannover 96): "This loss is beyond words. I feel endless regret and sorrow that he was in such as situation that led to this final act."

Please feel free to comment
It's a terrible moment for me and many, many other people right now. Yesterday me and many other people went to the stadium in Hannover to grieve - he was a great sportsman and a very very special person. A role-model for most of the people here in Hannover.

I read about that this morning and it is a very sad story. I appreciate he had gone through some very tough times, but I'll never understand how somebody could take there own life. Just as the country is in the midst of celebrations, this happens.

I hope all international games this week, will pay their respects with a minutes silence.

I really really appreciate your sympathy Machu. Many people don't care, because they don't care for soccer, but for me he was more than a goalkeeper, he was a very talented and strong man with a very tragic lifetime...

Poor guy...

Despite being an ocean away from all of this, I express my sympathies. I don't care if you're a soccer player or not. That's rough.

Jesus I read about this last night, poor guy

Celebratory times have a way of amplifying depression in those who are already feeling low. It's really tragic, but the rising tide does not raise all ships.

I'll have a good thought for him, and everyone else who feels they're beyond the hopes of this world.

I've never heard of him but I feel sad for the family

"very tough times" is a massive understatement , and i hope all here will never have to understand his reasons.
R.I.P Robert and Lara

It is a very tragic story and my condolences go out to his wife and family. The human psyche is so complicated and even when a person has achieved their childhood dreams, in the case of Robert Enke being a successful goalkeeper for club and country, there can still be other factors in a persons life that make them feel they can not carry on living. Very sad indeed.

Soccer, or football as it's actually called, is by far the worlds most popular sport. Don't let yourself be fooled into thinking that what goes in the USA is what goes elsewhere. On a global scale, soccerfootball dwarfs Baseball, American Football and Basketball.

In England we have a major footballing rivalry with Germany, and Enke would have been the 1st choice Keeper for the Germans at the forthcoming World Cup, so it's very sad that this has happened. I've seen him play several times for various club teams around Europe, he had a lot of talent.

RIP.

He played football in Portugal, Spain and Turkey - and of course Hanover. It's good to see all the people from these country showing their respect in different kind of way and it's unbelievable what is going on right now in Hannover: tenthousands of people are on the street in Hannover city on a mourning march to the stadium ... an hour ago there was a very impressive mass in the biggest church of Hanover, where all the players of Hannover 96, fans and other important people were...

An absolute tragedy. My thoughts go out to all his family and friends. I myself cannot begin to imagine what he has gone through and hope that I never do. Its a shame that he couldn't overcome his depression, but I suppose until you reach that pit of despair none of us can truly say what we would do.

R.I.P Robert.