The footballers mental health In their own words

Charles Adam played for a number of Scottish clubs, including Dundee United. He died on 17th December 2012 at the age of 50. The cause of death was suicide. Justin Fashanu was found hanged in a deserted lock-up garage he had broken into, in Shoreditch, London. He was at the time facing a court charge in the US of sexually assaulting a teenage boy, and wrote in a suicide note that while innocent he felt he would be treated unfairly because of his homosexuality. His career had already nosedived by the time he spoke about his sexuality, but to his own mind it was a deep-seated prejudice within the English game which led to his demise. The suicide of German footballer Robert Enke has raised fresh questions about the particular pressures of sport on the psyche. Every case is unique, and Enke had suffered intense personal tragedy with the death of his baby daughter from a congenital heart problem three years ago. His widow Teresa said he had battled depression for years, and that he lived in fear the daughter they had subsequently adopted would be removed from them if his condition became public knowledge. His career was also dominated by the extreme highs and lows that characterise sporting life. A goalkeeper who was sidelined before finding favour again, he said openly that the threat of being usurped by a younger, better player made him falter, not flourish - and that it was faith in his talents that he needed to perform, not the challenge of competition.