"Teresa Enke is certain what her late husband Robert would be doing now were he still alive: coaching goalkeepers at Benfica and living in Lisbon with his family where some of the happiest times of his life were spent.
Robert Enke was a Germany international, 32 years old, and in contention to be his country’s No 1 at the 2010 World Cup finals when, on Nov 10, 2009, he took his own life – a death that was shattering for German football, and front page news around the world. He was a devoted husband and father to two daughters, one of whom had died at two from a heart condition, and his death left family and team-mates bereft at the loss of a kind, principled man who suffered two bouts of severe depression in his life, the second proving fatal.
Thursday would have been Robert’s 40th birthday and it is for that reason Teresa has agreed to speak, because his death has been a key factor in changing perceptions about mental health in professional football. At one point in our conversation Teresa searches for the right word in English to describe how she sees Robert’s legacy for all those who suffer mental illness, and she alights on “martyr” – a strange choice, she confesses, but in some ways it feels right.
What followed Robert’s death was an attempt to make sense of his illness which he had kept secret from all but a small circle. The result was one of the most remarkable sports books ever written, by Robert’s friend the German journalist Ronald Reng, with whom he had planned to write a revelatory autobiography post-retirement. In the end, Reng pieced together Robert’s life from his diaries and from interviews with family, friends and team-mates. “A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke”, published here in 2011 and which won the William Hill sports book award, stands as the definitive work on mental illness in football.
The Robert Enke Foundation has now established a network of psychiatrists across Germany which players can use anonymously and access therapy within days of presenting symptoms of depression. Reng goes into clubs to talk to footballers about mental illness along with Martin Amedick, the former Bundesliga defender who has been open about his struggles with depression. The foundation also raises money for children with heart problems in memory of the Enkes’ first daughter Lara, who was born with a heart defect, and died in 2006.
Last month Teresa was invited to meet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Berlin during their Germany tour and discuss mental illness, part of the Heads Together campaign to challenge the stigma of mental health and support those needing help. “I was very nervous to speak to them, but it was an amazing day,” Teresa says. “The Royals were very well-prepared and interested in my history and in the foundation. For me, it was unforgettable.”
As a consequence she says that the Foundation have been invited to work with the Premier League on mental health in a formal partnership. The problems suffered by Aaron Lennon, sectioned under the mental health act in May, and Telegraph Sport’s subsequent investigation into mental illness in sport, have revealed a widespread problem, often unspoken. In Germany, Teresa has seen huge shifts in attitude towards the illness, with coaches on German Football Association (DFB) courses now taught how to spot it in players.
“The main job of the foundation is to break the stigma and show everybody that mental illness is something that can be cured,” she says. “The most important thing is to break the taboo around talking about it and admitting that you have a problem.”
“A Life Too Short” goes deep into the psyche of a professional footballer, and chronicles Robert’s first serious bout of depression in 2003 when he arrives at Barcelona aged 24, his stellar career having taken him from his hometown club of Carl Zeiss Jena to Borussia Monchengladbach, Benfica and then on to the Nou Camp. There are warnings along the way – when he signs for Benfica he immediately tells his agent and friend Jorg Neblung that he wants to leave – but in Spain the problems become much deeper.
He is left out the team in favour of the 20-year-old Victor Valdes and then comes in for a cup tie against third tier opposition which goes disastrously – Barcelona lose and he barely plays again. A loan spell at Fenerbahce is aborted after one game in which Robert freezes and then depression takes grip. But he rebuilds his life and his career with the support of Teresa and others, coming back at Tenerife, moving to Hannover 96 where he is made captain and finally makes his Germany debut in 2007 before, with dreadful cruelty, the depression returns two years later.
The book features some of the famous names who have graced English football. There is the young Benfica coach Jose Mourinho whom Robert loves playing for and almost teams up with again at Porto. There is the coldness of Louis Van Gaal’s Barcelona regime and Frank de Boer, now the Crystal Palace manager, bawling out Robert on the pitch during the shock cup defeat. At Hannover he becomes friends with a young Per Mertesacker, and meets Thomas Christiansen, now Leeds United manager.
In the summer of 2001, Robert had a phone-call from Sir Alex Ferguson. Reng, dogged in his pursuit of the truth, persuaded the old Manchester United manager to confirm that the club offered Benfica £3.5 million and proposed that Robert would first to be understudy to Fabien Barthez and then take over. Never wanting to be a No 2 again, Robert declined.
The book is also a love story, that of Robert and Teresa, through the loss of their daughter Lara, the adoption of Leila, now eight, and their struggle against his depression. It is impossible to talk about Robert without asking Teresa about her own life post-2009.
“I have a beautiful life and I am happy and grateful for what I have and what I have created,” she says. “I have the everyday pleasures and of course the problems of normal life. I enjoy my life with Leila. We have many people around us and I look forward to the work I do with the foundation. Leila is doing well at school.
“I am very grateful for the time I had with Robbi and I have learned to be happy with what I had and not to be sad. I want to say that Robbi is a martyr … is that the right word? I want to be the one to give a sense to what happened in the past. To help charities help people out there day-to-day.
“In football, life has changed a lot. Now in Germany the coaches are aware of the topic of mental illness and the players can talk to them about their problems. It is the first step and it is important to talk about it and not to stay alone with the illness. It is not a shameful thing to have it. We want them to use the network that we have created at the foundation.”
No-one can say with certainty why depression strikes and a cursory glance at Robert’s career pre-November 2009 would suggest a man who had conquered the worst. He had nursed a chronically ill child, and seen her die, while supporting his wife and establishing himself as arguably the Bundesliga’s leading goalkeeper. He had overcome the illness that hit him in 2003, was named as one of the three goalkeepers in Germany’s Euro 2008 squad, and came back from the fracture of a scaphoid bone in his hand – a serious injury for goalkeepers.
The Foundation is trying to educate all aspects of football, including fans, about mental illness. “The book has shaken many people deeply,” Teresa says, “and also given them the hope of a happy ending despite our history. A lot of people tell me that when they read the book they hope for a happy ending, even though they know what happened.”
And, yes, there is also the issue of how the media treats mental illness. There was intense debate in the German press about who would succeed Jens Lehmann as the national team's goalkeeper and, for his own reasons, Robert was desperate to keep his depression a secret, even when it caused him to pull out of internationals in the months before his death. “It would help,” says Teresa, “for there to be less excitement about it. For the media to see depression the same way they see a torn cruciate ligament – as something that can happen to anyone.”
The illness returned to Robert with a vengeance and on the morning of Nov 10, he bid his family farewell, telling Teresa he had two training sessions at Hannover on a day when none were scheduled. He even took a phone-call from Reng around midday. Like many who take their own lives it is thought that the calmness of his final days came from a distorted belief that he had found a solution to his illness. Robert had left a note and is believed to have driven around all day; then, at 6.15pm, he walked in front of a regional express train going through the town of Eilvese.
Reading the book again in preparation for this interview, and then speaking to Teresa – by phone, in the end, because of holiday schedules – it is hard not to be struck by the humanity of this woman, who lost a child and then a husband. To marvel at the wisdom she has accumulated and that, after all she has been through, her simple hope is that she can help others. Most of all I wanted to hear her perspective now on her beloved Robert, at a time when they would been celebrating his 40th birthday, free of the pressures of professional football, and possibly as happy as they had ever been.
When Robert’s death was announced in 2009, Teresa explained at a press conference in Hannover the extent of his depression. Now she apologises for her English and says that in preparation for this question, she has written something down. I can hear the rustling of paper and then she begins.
“Robert was a wonderful and life-affirming man who laughed and appreciated life. He was sensitive, empathetic and tried to use his reputation for charitable work. He did a lot for children with heart disease after our first daughter Lara died.
“Robert loved football but more than that he loved team spirit. It was very important to him, even more than football. Now, on his 40th birthday he would probably not have been a goalkeeper anymore. He would have written a book with Ronald Reng and shared his depression experiences to break the stigma. We talked about that before he died.
“His goal after he finished playing was to work as a goalkeeper coach for Benfica. He absolutely loved Portugal and the club, and to live under the Lisbon sun. He would have wanted to stay close to his sport and also to live a relaxed life. A wonderful idea, don’t you think?" "
