The voice of Galicia
The voice
16/02/2021 18:18 h
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Robert Enke was a German goalkeeper who, as a result of a depression, committed suicide by throwing himself on the train tracks in the city of Hanover. His story shocked the football world and brought to the fore the need to treat mental illnesses with the importance they require.
It shocked everyone except a Bayer Leverkusen fan, who after a poor performance by his now exporter Bernd Leno decided to send him a message through networks: “Do like Enke.” That day was the last that Leno opened a social network to read what people thought of his team’s soccer games. «Since I read that I realized that there are too many stupid people in the networks. That is the reason why I do not read them even when I do it right. I don’t need it, it doesn’t do me any good and it’s a waste of time, ”said the now Arsenal goalkeeper in an interview with Sky Sports.
Enke committed suicide in 2009, after being heavily criticized in his time at Barcelona and Fernebahçe and after the death of his daughter. It is the most extreme case that football has experienced, a sport in which its fans have not learned to behave when the fury of a defeat or a mistake consumes them.
For months, in England it has been seen as normal that the day after a meeting a piece of news appears in the press with the following headline: “‘X’ player receives threats on social networks”. It is a constant. An error is associated with insults and racial abuse.
The cases are counted by dozens. The last to suffer it, Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial of Manchester United, after a loss against Sheffield United, because the fans felt that they had not defended well. Then it was Antonio Rudiger’s turn, for scoring an own goal.
Even Mikel Arteta said that as an Arsenal manager he had to report that both he and his family were threatened by fans who use the networks as a mask for harassment. “There are too many people hiding behind their computers to make you feel bad. Many times they use racism or insult your family. I don’t like it and I don’t read it. It can affect your life. What’s the point? ”Adds Leno.
In a letter addressed to the founders of both social networks, the Premier League, along with other associations, asked that they eliminate racist messages, that they impose a filter that prevents sending hateful messages, that prevents people from using multi-accounts and a string of complaints aimed at avoiding what is repeated every week in England. And this problem is not exclusive to football. It is closely related to sports betting, as tennis players have lived in their flesh after losing a game and seeing that their Instagram inbox was filled with insults.
Argentine Diego Schwartzman, current number 9 of the ATP, denounced in 2017 that after each game he lost, he received the same kind of threats. “Loser. I want the worst possible things to happen to you while I’m alive: being cheated on by your partner, health problems, losing everything you love, and so on. I hope this happens to you quickly and that it forces you to end your own life, “was the message that Schwartzman received, who also reported similar threats in 2019.
Same case as the Spanish Íñigo Cervantes, who in 2016, and after winning Alexander Zverev in Hamburg, received the following message on networks. I’m going to kill you and your family. I’m going to cut your throats and feed you and your family. Then I’ll take a dull knife and shove it into your eyes »
