On the sofa in Studio Voetbal

‘The fire was gone’, said goal scorer Guus Til last Sunday after the top match Utrecht-PSV. He wanted to cheer, but he couldn’t. In front of the camera of ESPN, the PSV player admitted to feeling lost on the field.

Of course, this remarkably candid interview then became the subject of discussion in various afterthoughts. Not only football matches, but also mental struggles need interpretation. Because there were no psychologists in the football studios, the football analysts had to do it. Pierre van Hooijdonk thought that Til had a kind of football burnout. Marco van Basten recognized it from the time he played at AC Milan and started the first Gulf War. ‘What are we doing now?’, he had thought when Iraq invaded Kuwait. The absurdity of everyday reality can sometimes be unbearable.

Breaking taboos in a macho culture

These are well-intentioned comments, but whether you help someone talk about them when they are not there is another question. Because what was going on with Guus Til is a question that only Guus Til can answer. And maybe not even him (yet).

A day later, Til regretted his interview. Suddenly he was in the spotlight, while he didn’t feel like it at all. Pierre van Hooijdonk had said that they had to send Til on holiday. But, Til said, quitting football is the last thing I need right now.

With his interview, Till broke a taboo: top athletes can also be in trouble with themselves. Like every human being. Even if you love your job and do what you love to do, the fire can go away. The reason for this is not always easy to explain. For that you need help from someone who has done this before. Someone who knows how people work. Who knows what steps you can take to get out of an impasse and to prevent worse.

“With his interview, Guus Til broke a Taboo: top athletes can also be in trouble with themselves. Like every human being.”

You hope that statements like Guus Til’s will ensure that the stigma on mental problems disappears. That it becomes more normal to talk about it. Especially within a macho culture like the football world, that is often difficult. So you also hope that this will help to ensure that people are more likely to sound the alarm if, for example, they experience less pleasure in their work. Or when the work-life balance is lost. Or if someone is inclined to take all the problems of the world on his or her shoulders. By making them negotiable, you prevent the problems from worsening and you reduce the chance that they will remain under water.

The role of professionals and media

What Guus Til himself needs above all is a professional listening ear. Someone who understands what is going on and who knows what the next step should be to enjoy football again. The Netherlands already has 17 million football coaches, we don’t need 17 million mental coaches, no matter how tempting it is to analyze someone. It should be the responsibility of the media to exercise restraint in this. And from PSV to find the right professionals for Guus Til.

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