Berlin, November 19: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she wanted to see an end to taboos in football after the tragic suicide of national goalkeeper Robert Enke, who killed himself after suffering depression.
“We must send a clear signal,” Merkel told German weekly newspaper Die Zeit, in its edition to appear today.
“We can help to change the social climate so that taboos like depression, and also issues like homosexuality, are no longer impossible to discuss.
“If someone is affected by either issue, they should be able to talk about it in peace,” she added.
Enke, 32, was set to travel with the Germany squad to South Africa for next year’s World Cup, but threw himself under a train on Tuesday, November 10. Tens of thousands of fans attended a memorial service in Hanover last Sunday.
–PTI