German football ponders lessons of Enke's death

The country's professional footballers' organisation VDV and others in the game have called for more help for players suffering from depression or psychological problems.

 More than 35,000 people gathered for a procession in Hanover Wednesday evening where a church service was held for Enke who committed suicide on Tuesday evening.

 German federation officials, national coach Joachim Loew and captain Michael Ballack, who had known Enke since a boy, lit candles for the 32-year-old Hanover 96 keeper during the ceremony.

 "The Robert Enke tragedy gives us cause to think about certain things which are accepted as usual in this business," Hanover 96 manager Joerg Schmadtke told the Norddeutsche Rundfunk radio station.

 "Robert has given us a task - that of how to deal with the issue of the care of young players."

   Enke, who was hit by a train on a level crossing near his home, had been treated for depression since 2003.

 His widow Teresa said Wednesday he had tried to keep his illness from becoming public out of fear of both losing his adoptive daughter Leila and risking his playing career.

 The couple had lost their daughter Lara who died in 2006 of a rare heart condition when she was just two.

 VDV head Ulf Baranowsky told Deutschlandradio that the Bundesliga needed to think about employing psychologists to help players.

 "There are good examples from clubs ... who are open for such a subject. It would really be welcome if other measures were to follow in whatever form they take," he said.

 Germany called off a friendly international against Chile in Cologne on Saturday but the players will join up again on Sunday following a memorial service for Enke in Hanover to prepare for a friendly next Wednesday against Ivory Coast.

 German football federation (DFB) president Theo Zwanziger praised the courage of Enke's wife who attended a news conference to reveal her husband's illness the day after his death.

 "She did it to give us a message," he said.

 "We should never allow a situation that a person should give up so much by committing suicide, to feel there is no alternative but to take such a decision," he said.

 Zwanziger said football needed time to reflect, and indicated the federation would learn the lessons from Enke's death. German team manager Oliver Bierhoff said no one in the squad had been aware Enke was suffering from depression.

 Another top German international, Sebastian Deisler, quit the game two years ago at the age of 27 after being treated for depression. His former club, Bayern Munich, are one of the few in the Bundesliga to employ a psychologist.

 Hanover's press spokesman Andreas Kuhnt said depression remained "a taboo in the Bundesliga" while Enke's long-time goalkeeping coach Joerg Sievers said: "Depression is something that is clearly seen as a weakness."

   German press commentators agreed Thursday that depression, along with homosexuality, was an issue football would rather not know about but would now have to tackle more seriously.

 Both subjects "don't exist in the world of strong men," Kicker magazine wrote.

 The Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the question had to be asked as to how much values such as care for others and sympathy counted in the world of professional sport and particularly football.

 Enke's death had affected so many people in Germany because they sensed that the goalkeeper in particular embodied these values.

 It has left many people deeply moved that "a person who lived these values saw no other way" than to kill himself, it said.

DPA