Football mourns loss of a great talent and a modest man

November 11, 2009

Robert Enke had none of the extrovert qualities associated with the great goalkeepers in German football folklore, larger than life figures such as Sepp Maier and Oliver Kahn.

He didn’t quite achieve greatness on the pitch but this modest man will be certainly be remembered as a great talent, who at the time of his death was the best of an outstanding group of German keepers.

Enke, who has committed suicide at the age of 32, would likely have been the man chosen to keep goal for Germany at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and he may have fulfilled the exceptional potential he showed from early on.

That he had even made it into the Germany squad was testament to his character and professionalism.

Enke had to struggle to get his career back on track after a disappointing spell at Barcelona in the 1990s. After an excellent spell at Benfica, he was never able to make an impact at the Nou Camp, with his career there effectively cut short by a single poor performance in a Cup game.

He moved on to Fenerbahce and dropped down to the Spanish second tier with Tenerife before he fought his way back into the top flight in 2004, back in Germany with Hanover. He eventually won the first of his eight German caps in 2007, eight years after being called up to the squad for the first time. It was a promotion that was long overdue in the eyes of most fans and players.

By then, as is well known, his life had been marked by tragedy, with the death of his two-year-old daughter in 2006 because of a heart problem.

The death touched people in Germany, and he was widely admired for the way he dealt with it. It helps explain why people have been so moved by his suicide, which came, according to his wife and doctor, after he battled depression for years.

“I can hardly breathe,” said Hamburg captain David Jarolim. “This is a real tragedy: first his daughter and then this.”

A lot of us will have felt the same way on hearing news that is just so terribly sad.

PHOTO: Supporters of Germany’s national goalkeeper Robert Enke stand in silence outside the headquarters of his club Hanover 96, November 11, 2009. REUTERS/Christian Charisius

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