No-one is Immune from the Silent Torment

Andrew Flintoff's excellent and heartfelt documentary last night on BBC TV which examined the murkey depths of depression in sport was all the more compelling because it had a highly personalised slant on it.

Freddie Flintoff experienced the lowest of lows after England's 5-0 capitulation in the 2006-7 Ashes and the subsequent, disastrous world cup which saw him dropped after his infamous, drunken pedalo incident. It was semi-amusing at the time. It isn't now.

As Fred himself explained, he (and we, the media, and the public in general) had created this larger than life persona that was Freddie Flintoff, the yeoman Englishman who would smite the Aussies and still have time for a pint with his chums before swooping the girls off their feet.

The reality, as is always the case with sportsmen and women, and indeed with you and me, is never quite the same. Failure can haunt you. It can rip apart your self-esteem and it can turn the same person from a super-confident being into a myriad of doubts. When you shut your door and close out the rest of the world you become a very different person. You become, in fact, you.

If Freddie can be depressed, what chance do the rest of us have, would be the simple reaction, just as it was from the former Aston Villa manager, John Gregory, who ridiculed Stan Collymore's depression on the basis that a high-earning, famous footballer can have no grounds to be depressed.

It doesn't quite work like that. Ten per cent of the population suffer from forms of depression. Why should sportspeople be immune? Indeed, they are ripe for it because at some point in their lives the success turns to failure, and the adulation is replaced by disinterest. A life used to being a gladiator, performing in an arena full of cheering fans, is suddenly devoid of such experiences, and this is why so many struggle to deal with life after sport.

A predominantly male-dominated field, of course, is also not the place traditionally to discuss such matters through fear of ridicule or, at best, misunderstanding. Thanks to Freddie, before him the likes of Marcus Trescothock and Mike Yardy, and those interviewed last night, such as Ricky Hatton, the ever excellent Barry McGuigan, Vinny Jones and Graeme Dott, depression is becoming less and less of a taboo subject. The mental barriers are being broken down. For that we have much to be thankful for.