The ex-Germany, Fenerbahçe and Hannover 96 goalkeeper was laid to rest next to his daughter’s grave at a Hannover cemetery on Sunday after a very emotional ceremony.
Then the following day, on Monday to be more accurate, the news of the death in Greece of Mexican striker Antonio de Nigris -- another soccer player who had also performed in Turkey -- was splashed across the Internet and given wide international coverage as well.
De Nigris, a Mexican international since 2001, played in clubs of six different countries over a span of nine years. He moved to Turkey from Spanish La Liga’s Villarreal in late 2006 and played in a quick succession for Gaziantepspor (2006-07), Ankaraspor (2008) and Ankaragücü (2009) before joining Super League Greece side Larissa earlier this season.
Enke had taken his own life at the age of 32, throwing himself in front of a train after battling depression for years. Teresa Enke said her husband had kept his depression secret from the public because he had been afraid the couple’s adopted 8-month-old daughter would be taken away from them if his illness was known. The couple’s biological daughter, Lara, died of a heart ailment when she was 2 in 2006.
Enke played very briefly in Turkey and left in 2003. So we leave the German authorities to determine whether it was possible to do something to stop this young man from taking his life.
The 31-year-old de Nigris died of apparent heart problems at a Larissa hospital. And his untimely death inevitably raises the question, “Could this have been averted?”
The Ankaragücü club, where de Nigris last played before going to Greece, while expressing sadness and shock over the death of the Mexican striker, nevertheless said on Monday that it had warned the Turkish Soccer Federation (TFF), de Nigris’ managers and lawyer about the striker’s health situation, but no one paid any heed.
“While de Nigris was playing for Ankaraspor [now demoted to the Bank Asya League 1], his health situation was discovered during a routine medical checkup,” Ankaragücü General Manager Ender Yurtgüven said on Monday.
“And we warned all those concerned. The TFF, managers and his lawyer, but no one listened to us. On the contrary, we were accused of trying to annul the player’s contract unilaterally. And we also warned the player himself that by behaving like this, he was damaging the image of Turkey. If only it had not happened this way,” Yurtgüven lamented.
Another important issue is whether this player underwent a medical before joining Larissa. And if he did, why was his heart problem not detected?
Once a heart patient, always a heart patient, they say. So did Ankaragücü inform the Greek club that de Nigris was a heart patient and therefore unfit to play soccer? We don’t want to make a sad situation worse, but we feel that these questions should be answered nonetheless.
No deaths on the pitch in Turkey
No player has died on the pitch, or of a heart attack, in Turkey as far as we can remember. And this means that Turkish teams are taking good medical care of their players, both local and foreign. After all, the Turkish health care system, despite its flaws, is better than most.
The only known incident is when Vestel Manisaspor’s Czech striker Michal Meduna fainted in the 81st minute during the 2006-07 Super League week three match against Galatasaray on Aug. 20, 2006 and was immediately rushed to a hospital. He suffered a coronary spasm and it was prevented before it could trigger a heart attack. Meduna’s contract was annulled after he recovered.
The funny thing, however, is that Meduna is still playing soccer. He is currently at an Austrian amateur club called ASKÖ Pregarten. After surviving a near-death experience at Manisa, the Czech striker played for Lazne Bohdanec and Sokol Zivanice in the Czech lower divisions. Common sense is not so common, the French say.
Recent soccer deaths related to heart ailments
Sevilla midfielder Antonio Puerta, one of Spain’s most promising young players, died in August 2007 three days after collapsing during a Primera Liga match.
Cameroon’s Marc-Vivien Foe collapsed and died during a Confederations Cup match in 2003.
Among the other victims were Miklos Feher of Benfica in January 2004, Sao Caetano defender Serginho in October the same year and Hugo Cunha of Uniao Leiria in Portugal in 2005.
Motherwell midfielder Phil O’Donnell died in December 2007 after collapsing toward the end of a Scottish Premier League match against Dundee United
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