Rugby tragedy sheds light on dark cloud of depression

The smiles etched on their faces belie the trauma and tragedy that lay ahead. Earlier this month, Hatton was admitted to a rehabilitation clinic after he was secretly filmed taking what is alleged to be lines of cocaine in a hotel room. Then, at the weekend, Newton, a former Great Britain international, was found dead at his home after apparently hanging himself.

The death of the 31-year-old former Leeds, Wigan and Bradford player comes seven months after his career was ended by a two-year suspension from the game for using a performance-enhancing drug, and a year after his younger sister Leanne died of pneumonia following heroin addiction.

Newton's death has shocked the world of Rugby League and especially those who played alongside him. But Geoff Burrow, sports officer for the GMB union, which represents more than 700 rugby league players, believes more can be done to help victims of depression in the wake of Newton's tragic death.

"Terry was a valued member and I spoke to him about three weeks ago after he inquired about a course for his nephew to go on after rugby league," he said. "I was waiting to hear back from him. We are always there to help, arranging courses and we're also a shoulder to cry on but you do wonder if you could have done more."

The Rugby Football League (RFL) insist that Newton was not abandoned following his ban and that they were talking to him about his offer to help counsel youngsters on the dangers of drugs. Every registered rugby league player has access to counselling services if they want them and Newton remained in contact with his former team-mates right up to his death.

"People in rugby league stayed close to him," says RFL spokesman John Ledger. "He was not left high and dry." Newton, who became the first athlete to test positive for the banned human growth hormone, revealed in his recent autobiography Coming Clean that he turned to drugs while fighting to revive his flagging career.

Journalist Phil Wilkinson, who co-wrote the book, says there was no indication that he had reached such a low ebb. "Even his former team mates who spoke to him just days before he died said there was no inkling that anything was wrong. He was normal and happy and he had a good support network of family and friends who were there for him. That is why this has come as such a big shock," he says.

"After his sister Leanne died, he suffered from depression and he wasn't ashamed to admit it. In fact, he was quite forceful about getting it in the book, because he wanted to show that even big, tough guys could be affected by this." Even when his career began to unravel, there was no indication he was trapped in a downward spiral.

"When he got his ban he actually seemed happy, like a burden had been lifted from him," says Wilkinson. "He had a pub which he was getting off the ground, he had the book, and he had other projects on the go. It wasn't as if he didn't know what to do with himself."

Although suicide among sports stars is rare, it remains a deeply troubling issue. The football world was left stunned last November by the suicide of German goalkeeper Robert Enke. Seemingly at the top of his career, the 32 year-old was tipped to be his country's first choice heading into the World Cup in South Africa before depression claimed his life.

It's thought that Enke never recovered from the shock of losing his two-year-old daughter, Lara, who died due to complications from a heart defect. The death of a young daughter can, of course, be too much for a man to bear, but Enke's death pushed the issue of depression among sportsmen into the spotlight. Another footballer, Alan Davies, who played for Manchester United in the 1983 FA Cup final, committed suicide nine years later, having become disillusioned with a career which never lived up to

its early promise.

Cricket, too, has been hit by tragedy. David Bairstow, the much-missed Yorkshire and England wicket keeper, was a popular and talented competitor but he took his own life at the age of 46, sending tremors through a cricketing community that has never quite recovered from the shock.

So what makes sportsmen take their own lives? Dr Victor Thompson, a clinical sports psychologist, says it's not so much about the pressure they face, but what happens when they hang up their boots. "They enjoy the adulation and camaraderie and when that's taken away it can have a big impact," he says.

"A retirement is a big shift for anyone, and sport stars go through that much earlier in their life. They're usually in their 20s, or 30s, and not necessarily well set up for what comes next. You can have time and money, but feeling that you've lost your purpose in life can be hard to deal with."