According to the BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15909277 According to the FAW he has committed suicide. I am in shock. Deeply upsetting news. RIP. Deepest sympathies to those closest to him.
Unbelievable Sgt, truly shocking news. A great footballer, a fine bloke and he was beginning to turn round the fortunes of the Welsh national team. Sincere condolescences to his family and friends.
Listening to a few of the comments from various footballer's/Managers Gary Speed was not only a fantastic footballer but a true Gentleman. He was also doing really well for the Welsh National Team.. Very sad news. My sincere condolencies to his family and friends. Gary Speed may you R.I.P.
Shay Given. You are a stronger and better person than I. There's no way I could play hours after finding out a friend has passed away.
Don't know the guy apart from him being a football player on the tv, so why should i send an RIP message? Other people die everyday in all walks of life, do they get coverage? Life goes on, people die everyday of the week.
Mighty Huth True enough, they die everyday but this is a football forum why not just respect the O.P.s comments or maybe you would be better just to not say anything. And Sgt WHERE on Sky S News did it say Gary Speed had killed himself? That report differs from the one I've heard on SS News.
It says on the BBC website that he was found hanged, and that Cheshire police say there were no suspicious circumstances. Huth, you're not obliged to say RIP, but do you not even feel a little empathy for the family he's left behind, or the problems he must have faced for him to take his own life? Just because people die every day doesn't make it any less tragic when any one individual person dies. I'd send RIPs to all their families if I could.
Peadar Cheers but I was in the car when I heard the news.. thanks anyway! I'm speechless as to why? do something like that. Really sorry for his wife and family.
Because it's correct to show empathy to someone who was obviously so depressed he felt the only way out was to take his own life?
Interesting that this article appeared in the paper two days before the tragic death of Gary Speed. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/nov/25/the-secret-footballer?newsfeed=true The ability of football to turn life on its head with only a single blast of the referee's whistle makes it almost too easy to get carried away with the game at times. One minute everything is going well and seconds later things have never looked so bleak; sometimes that pressure is simply too much. Last week the attempt by the Bundesliga referee Babak Rafati to kill himself had pundits and commentators alike preferring to "put football into perspective" rather than ask the awkward questions that nobody wants to answer. Many top sports people know only too well what Rafati is going through. On Friday, Stan Collymore, the former Liverpool striker, used his Twitter account to tell the world that his latest bout of depression was one of the most severe yet, prompting him to reveal that he hasn't seen daylight for four days. I certainly understand the feeling of wanting to shut yourself away from the world and when I was first diagnosed with depression in 2002 it was even more of a stigma than it is today. Since football exploded as a global business some 20 years ago the pressure on everybody involved has become a poisoned chalice. On the one hand the rewards are vast but on the other failure, or even mediocrity, can become the barometer against which all aspects of life are measured, albeit for a minority. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying for one minute that everyone involved with the game is in a state of irreparable depression, but I do think that the majority of us feel a degree of pressure, from the thought of what the headline writers have in store for us to the fans that start work on Monday morning unsure if they'll have enough money to put fuel in their car, never mind afford another £40 ticket come Saturday. When I started playing there was no media training or sports psychology to help you along the way; pressure was just something you had to deal with. Some players remain so anxious that they are physically sick before games, and one of my friends from the continent took to having oxygen such was his fear of underperforming. On many occasions, I have seen players affected by what somebody has said about them on a message board or in a newspaper. Even if there are 99 positive comments, they will put all their efforts into searching for the one negative remark and, subsequently, put all their energy into worrying about it. A player, of course, knows only too well if he has played poorly, and yet the fear of seeing a below-par performance pulled apart by a journalist remains a huge obstacle for some. I must confess that in days gone by I have refused interviews with some reporters when I've felt that the rating out of 10 given to me in their match report the previous week did not reflect my true contribution. As I wrote that sentence I could see how pathetic it might sound but imagine having your performance in the workplace publicly graded every week. These examples of insecurity are in no way confined to the players. Whenever a manager mentions in an interview that he never reads the papers, then you know for certain that the first thing he does on a Monday morning is go through every match report with a highlighter pen. Adding pressure to your own game is sometimes unavoidable and can manifest itself in poor performances, the culmination of which can lead to a dark and depressing cul-de-sac. Tragically, there are examples of players who have reached this tipping point. In 2009 Robert Enke, the German goalkeeper, killed himself after struggling to come to terms with the death of his daughter, his illness not helped by an inability to deal with the scrutiny of his performances and anything less than his own high standards. Unfortunately, mental illness among the wealthy, and in particular those in sport that are perceived by the public to be doing the job they love, remains a tough concept for some to get their head around. The word "depression" is suffering from a tired image and doesn't seem to have penetrated the public divide in perhaps the same way that, for example, post-traumatic stress disorder has. Yet, strangely for a game dominated by pent-up testosterone, the acknowledgment and treatment of depression is getting better. Managers understand, perhaps more than ever, that the talent of a modern-day footballer will tend to put them in a position of wealth and fame at a very young age, bringing vulnerability as well as huge rewards. The media coverage of football has also changed, leading to a relentless quest for content that has driven an interest in the personal lives of many players. Because of this, I feel there is a real opportunity for our governing bodies to lay down a marker for what players can expect from the media and the terraces and what is an invasion of human rights. Some have asked why a banker, which Rafati is, would ever want to be a part of any of this. The added pressure of refereeing top-flight football is in evidence almost every day of the week but, while banking is certainly a way to make a good living, it is, first and foremost, a job. Football is a passion and in an ideal world something to live for not to die as a result of. The world, of course, is far from ideal and that makes it easy for all of us to point the finger at times. Sometimes I'll see fans screaming at players of their own team with such anger that for a moment I lose all identification with them; the butterfly effect is the player that hurriedly makes his way to the coach as hundreds of kids wait for autographs. In my own way, I have learnt to cope with the side-effects of this game but only because I believe, in fact I know, that if some of those involved with football have arrived at a moment in their lives where they feel that standing in front of a train or slitting their wrists in a hotel room is the only way out, then it isn't just a game any more, is it?
C'mon Huthy, this has just GOT to be an act for some reason or t'other. From our PM's, I know that you are a very decent guy. Come on out of the closet - it doesn't hurt - see my thread!!!
Very sad. No he did not have anything to do with Stoke but for me he was a tremendous player and looked to be working wonders for Wales. Unbelievable as is said before reading comments from Robbie Savage and Dan Walker. Absolutely dreadful. My thoughts are with the family he leaves behind. Well done Shay Given today! RIP
