The impact of mental illness to football players in Zimbabwe

So what is depression in relation to football players?
 
Depression: 1.feelings of severe despondency and dejection. "self-doubt creeps in and that swiftly turns to depression"
synonyms: melancholy, misery, sadness, unhappiness, sorrow, woe, gloom, gloominess, dejection, downheartedness, despondency, dispiritedness, low spirits, heavy-heartedness, moroseness, discouragement, despair, desolation, dolefulness, moodiness, pessimism, hopelessness; (Wikipedia)
 
I will introduce this article by picking only 3 words that highlights the plight of every footballer especially those injured or coming to the end of their careers, i.e Sadness, Unhappiness and Hopelessness.

Anyone in life at some point will be unhappy, sad and hopeless depending the situation you are in. Footballers are known to go through a lot of crisis especially a goalkeeper is conceeding lot of goals and the strikers are failing to score goals. When a team continues to play and loose games in a competitive league. One Germany goalkeeper ended up commiting suicide. In Zimbabwe i know one player who was admitted and treated at Parirenyatwa Hospital's Psychiatric wing.

So what is the root cause of depression to modern football players?
When footballers loose they are not paid any allowances, unless they draw or win the match. This will definately cause someone to feel sad knowing that they do not have enough money to pay for transport, food, clothing and rent just to mention a few.

Then when you look at their motivation to play and win it becomes a mountain to climb as blame will start infesting the team. It starts with verbal abuse towards the referee by loosing players and then to the goalkeeper by his team's supporters. To add insult to injury the other players will accuse each other of lack of commitment and can fight during the match.
The coach needs to be highly motivated to motivate these dejected players and rally them to the next battle which is the next game. This will not easy as you cannot treat an infected wound without cleaning it. Coaches have gone through tough experiences including broken legs, long term injuries, bankruptcy, divorce, deaths of family members, failure to perform and mental illness itself.

If we look at the soldiers, a coach is a survivor of war with a bullet wound and scars on his sheen due to career threatening injuries. They have been involved in all aspects of the game from failure to success during their playing days.

When the unhappiness continues footballers get isolated by feigning injuries, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, gambling and playing unofficial money games to get money for either feeding the families and alcohol abuse as they mask the illness. Are the clubs doing enough to protect their players from these dangers of life? Some are trying their best while some are only relying on the Team Doctor while the Executive pile more pressure to the despondent players. We have already witnessed this at Dynamos where the Executive fired the coach for not winning 100% of the first 5 games.

So now the whole team start feeling hopeless as their coach/leader has been killed in the war which is as good as being fired as they are left with no strategist and in despair. The media will also add fuel to the burning house by scapegoating players for lack of commitment. The wives and relatives also give notice to the player who is not contributing financially to the food budget or rent. I recall one time mothers turned up at the training ground of one of the big clubs demanding that their partners's welfare be addressed immediately. I will not go into detail on what they actually threw in the ground as protest.

Clubs in Europe employ a full time psychologist to work with football players in addressing their mood and motivation to perform at high level as the game demands vast mental concentration. When the career comes to an end its a challenge itself as the incoming money stops hence its important to invest in coaching or property as you never know future.

Lord Morris Kakunguwo is a UK Based Entreprenuer, Founder & CEO of Zimbabwe Football Development Academy- Centre of Football Excellence 2014, Zimbabwe Football Philosopher, iTouch Guru. He writes in his capacity as FA Coach and Mentor. Feel free to comment and feedback on lordmore2002@gmail.com