2011 William Hill Sports Book of the Year: A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke, Ronald Reng

Ronald Reng’s tragic, yet compelling, insight into the life of Robert Enke, the German goalkeeper, was the recipient of the 2011 William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

In this harrowing tale, Reng documents the battle Enke faced with depression and demonstrates how even a sportsman at the peak of his career is not immune from the illness.

Reng works chronologically through Enke’s colourful footballing career, which saw him play for a string of Europe’s top clubs managed by the likes of Jupp Heyneckes and Jose Mourinho. Indeed, it was after his decision to leave Borussia Monchengladbach in his native Germany for Portuguese giants, Benfica, where we glimpse the earliest signs of Enke’s insecurities. In his lonely hotel room in Lisbon Reng writes: [Enke] buries his head in the pillow and weeps so despairingly that it sounds as if he’s going to choke on his tears.’ However, after weeks of frenetic deliberation, Enke begrudgingly elected to remain at Benfica and came to enjoy the happiest times of his career there, becoming team captain and snubbing an offer to join Manchester United.

Following this successful spell, Enke signed for footballing giants, Barcelona, in what ought to have been a dream move for the rising star. Instead Enke was made to feel unwelcome and unwanted by gruff manager Louis van Gaal and was overlooked in favour of rookie keeper, Victor Valdes. Enke finally made his Barca debut in a Copa del Rey fixture against minnows Novelda CF. In what Enke saw as a situation where he could only lose as Barca ‘would win 3-0 or 4-0 and no one would mention the goalkeeper or if it went wrong, he would get the blame’, Barcelona crashed out and the nervy Enke was publicly blamed and humiliated by team-mate Frank De Boer for his part in the acrimonious 3-2 defeat.

It was this game that sparked Enke’s first wave of depression and shortly afterwards he was loaned to Turkish side Fenerbahce. As he had experienced in Portugal, Enke felt a ‘mixture of fear, nerves and homesickness.’ He played just one match in Turkey, a 3-0 defeat to Istanbulspor where ‘coins, lighters and bottles’ were hurled at the German. Reng records how this plunged Enke into his lowest state of depression and he sought to end his career as he was ‘paralysed by fear.’ This led Enke to dissolve his contract at Fener and he returned to Barcelona an outlaw, his depression ‘getting worse every day.’

His wife, Teresa’s, pregnancy and a fresh start at Second Division club, Tenerife, where he was finally valued again enabled Enke to overcome his first state of depression. His daughter, Lara, was born with a serious heart defect and the severity of the situation meant that Enke had no time to focus on his mental state, as he was required to assist his wife and female daughter.

After impressing for Tenerife, Enke returned to his homeland with Hannover 96 and his outstanding performances saw him called up to the national side for the first time. However, tragedy soon struck when Lara died after a succession of heart operations and the Enke family was thrown into turmoil. In a role reversal, it was now Robert who was the rock in the family and he coped admirably and courageously with the loss.

Although Enke dealt bravely with his daughter’s death, his depression would come back to haunt him. With Enke now a serious contender to become the number one German goalkeeper, he found himself under the fierce scrutiny of the public eye. The burden of expectation weighed heavily on Enke and after suffering a freak hand injury ‘his view of the world narrowed again.’

Enke's second child – an adopted daughter called Leila – offered momentary joy, but he was struggling to overcome his second spell of depression. In a desperate attempt to conceal his illness from the public, Enke pulled out of Germany’s qualifiers citing an infection of the intestine.

At the height of his second depressive state, Enke played two matches for Hannover – primarily to end the growing speculation over his ‘mysterious illness.’ Remarkably for a man playing under the influence of heavy psychotropic drugs, Enke performed solidly, yet even this failed to mark a cause for celebration.

Two days after playing for Hannover against Hamburg SV, Enke took his own life by jumping in front of a train. While the headlines expressed shock and disbelief at the episode, Reng’s book shows how Enke faced a continual battle against the illness. Eventually, suicide appeared the only way to escape the torment of his depression.

 
Reng concludes by expressing hope that his book will enable sportsmen to more openly fight their demons, instead of hiding a supposed weakness. To prevent further tragedies such as this, one wholeheartedly agrees with Reng’s sentiment.  

2010 William Hill Sports Book of the Year: Beware of the Dog, Brian Moore

Brian Moore, or ‘Pitbull’ as he was affectionately known in the rugby world is remembered for his fierce reputation as a hooker for his country. Since retirement, he has become an outspoken and controversial commentator never afraid to ruffle a few feathers.

However, his autobiography ‘Beware of the Dog’ reveals a rather different side to the fearsome ‘Pitbull.’ It is Moore’s second book and is more open, revealing and disturbing than the first.

Moore begins with a soul-baring account into the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of one his primary school teachers. Up until this point, Moore had hidden this dark secret, afraid of the ‘pain’ that he would inflict on his parents. But finally, after an eye-opening visit to the Child Exploitation Centre, Moore decided to tackle his demons and discuss his chilling experience. In his view, it was the only way ‘of dealing with this issue.’

As such, from the outset, our impression of Moore is far removed from the snarling hard-man of English rugby. Instead we see him as the innocent subject of shameful sexual abuse. Throughout, Moore’s book is an incredibly personal one: an adopted child, he finishes with a chapter on the difficulties and emotions that arose when he arranged to meet his biological mother.

The trauma Moore faced as a child moulded him into a fiery competitor ‘that was evident from about seven years of age.’ This ultra-competitiveness remained a part of Moore throughout his career. After England’s loss to Australia in the 1991 World Cup Final he believed that: ‘The team and I let ourselves and the country down and there is no easy way to seek absolution.’ He went on to say that ‘I took home my loser’s medal and put it in the loft. But even after two years, during which I had not looked at it again, its presence still haunted me and I threw it in the Thames.’ In a similar vein, following the Lions defeat to New Zealand in 1993, Moore refused to take part in a lap of honour as he ‘felt that I had let our thousands of supporters down, and I did not want to be involved in something that I thought would de derided by the Kiwis as an example of losers losing well.’

 

But Moore was not just a formidable competitor, he was also a deeply complex character. Throughout his career, Moore faced a constant battle against his alter-ego, Gollum (in reference to the J.R.R Tolkien character). Moore refers to this negative voice in his head as a ‘little monster’ that has ‘managed to taint so many performances by amplifying my mistakes’ and ‘inflicted many scars.’ For instance, after Moore’s call-up to the Lions tour in 1989, ‘[Gollum] reminded me that I should not be there; I would fail, who did I think I was.’ Even more extreme was the aftermath of the 1990 Five Nations defeat to Scotland that had provided Gollum ‘with an invaluable weapon’ and resulted in sleepless nights as Moore was ‘haunted by my failure.’

It was this self-doubt and fear that brought Moore to the brink of depression following his retirement from the game. As Moore put it: ‘I had bouts of terror that I could only control by firmly closing my mind to thinking about the subject.’ This breakdown led to the divorce of his first wife, Penny (Moore has been married three times) and led to ‘five mad years’ of partying. Although Moore overcame this distressing period in his life to become a well-respected commentator, he still believes that ‘there is a huge need to players to be taken through the likely effects of ending their playing careers.’

As well as this insight into Moore’s personality, the book also offers a fascinating picture into the state of amateur rugby. A far cry from the professional game today, Moore was called up to the national squad ‘when a late-night call located me in the middle of a heated row in an Indian restaurant.’ Moreover, every member of the England squad held down a full-time job and Moore discusses the difficulties of juggling his life as a solicitor with the demands of an international rugby player. Incredibly, the day before England played New Zealand in 1993, Moore flew to Glasgow and back to take crucial witness statements for a negligence claim. He also devotes a chapter to the shameful determination of the RFU to prevent the game turning professional, even when ‘shamateurism’ was rife (for instance players were being paid by a sponsor) and its amateur status had become ‘farcical.’

A brutally honest, disturbing, yet utterly compelling read.