People suffer from mental illness in all walks of life, why should football be any different? Because top players are rich, famous and doing a dream job? Get real. Depression can strike anybody and the pleasures of a career in sport are not enough to suppress the deep, black sadness that caused Robert Enke to take his life on a railway track on Tuesday night.

The natural question is “why?” and it’s unanswerable because no one can understand the depth of feeling that leads another person to commit suicide. “Why?” I turned the word round and round when I found out that Darren Sutherland, a boxer who lived near me, had hanged himself in September. He was 27. He was a rising star. Why did he decide to die?

All I can say with confidence is that for most people, the life of a professional footballer is more likely to aid their mental health than harm it. Some players don’t like their jobs, but most love them and go to work every day feeling they are privileged, as I did.

I know of only two players during my career who suffered from depression, and both cases were brought on by family tragedies.

When I had personal problems, it was always a relief for me to get on to the pitch. I can understand why Germany’s players didn’t want to face Chile on Saturday, but I hope the game against Ivory Coast goes ahead on Wednesday.

Once Enke’s team-mates are over their initial shock they should realise it is a chance to turn the match into a tribute to him.

Football is a strange environment, though. It’s attractive but it’s not easy and not for everyone. Life is heightened and intense, vivid and colourful. It is full of emotional extremes.

The sport is so impatient and so ruthless that it can feel warm one moment, cold the next. Clubs are communities, but they’re also businesses.

It’s an aggressive, macho, banter-filled world. You don’t want to show weakness or vulnerability in the dressing room. Talk about your feelings? What are you, a girl? Make a stupid decision or an idiotic comment and you’ll be hammered: teased, maybe even bullied.

But I would like to think, and firmly believe, that when tragedy strikes or when a player is in a truly dark and desperate place, his colleagues will rally round as if they were family. Sometimes, carried away with its drama and self-interest, football forgets to be compassionate — but it still knows how.