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Defoe ‘Threw His Shirt In’

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Good afternoon.

Certain conditions lack that essential wow factor. Depression like dementia, is one of those conditions that just sort of only nearly exists in the consciousness of far too many people.

Of course, it’s easier to identify with something you can see. Probably why the RSPCA do such continuously brisk business. You can see from the ribs sticking out and the beaten look in its eyes that a dog has been abused. 

Yet Granddad forgetting your daughter’s name is probably just down to him being overtired. Your brother’s reluctance to go to work is down to his bone idol gene which you first spotted when he was about fifteen.

Christoper Hitchens I mention for obvious reasons today to highlight that cancer is visable.  One of the most wonderful polemicists and orators of my lifetime physically reduced to a speechless, balding wreck. 

The shuffling and the dull thud you can now hear is me jumping on the depression bandwagon. Nothing duller  of course than the woes of others so I’ll spare you the details. But this is why I’m running this. I’ve seen the look on the faces of my own family members who simply do not get it. The lethargy and blackness cannot be communicated. And when you’re next spotted in your ‘usual’ great form, it’s as if this somehow weakens your case…

Trying to convey the tangible nature of depression to anyone who hasn’t experienced it is neither straightforward or rewarding. Trying to explain how utterly miserable and cut off from absolutely everything in your life you feel is like trying to get someone to replicate a great work of art by describing it over the phone.  ‘Err… It’s an oil painting of a bird with long black hair, a moody sort but with just the hint of a smile.’

Two recent tragedies triggered by depression to hit football have been well documented. In the instance of Dale Roberts, it was pretty obvious that his wife cheating on him with then Rushden & Diamonds team mate Paul Terry caused him kill himself. Gary Speed’s trigger to end his life has yet to be revealed.

Stan Collymore was unable to broadcast recently. There will be some who will struggle to sympathize. I mean no one was asking him to do a 12 hour split shift on minimum wage in particularly grueling working conditions. How ‘depressed’ would you have to be to find yourself unable to blather on about football for a couple of hours? If you read this far and are asking that class of question then you won’t find the answer reading the remainder of this page.

Depression Alliance UK strike me as decent folk. And Stan has stepped up and galvanized a quite staggering array of footballers and football related organizations into donating money cannot buy prizes to a truly incredible raffle to help DA UK.

Full details are HERE and the prizes include  Sporting Bet offering Corporate Hospitality at White Hart Lane and Jermaine Defoe has donating a match worn shirt. There are PFA Awards tickets, Soccer AM tickets and much much more.

It’s a fiver to be in it.

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