Football can't be everything DFB boss says at Enke memorial (2nd Lead)

By Peter Huebner Nov 15, 2009, 9:56 GMT

Hanover, Germany - The president of the German football association (DFB), Theo Zwanziger, said Sunday at the memorial service of Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke that football can never be everything.

   The 32-year-old Hanover 96 player, who suffered from depression, committed suicide on Tuesday by throwing himself in front of an oncoming train.

   His death sparked a public outpouring of mourning not seen in Germany since the funeral of the former Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1967.

Zwanziger said that the best way to remember the goalkeeper would be to recognize the fact that football should never be everything. 'It is not allowed to be everything.

'I think that Enke would have called on the fans to show more humanity and more civil courage, they should stand up to oppose the taboos that still exist in our professional sport.

'Do not simply look at what sport seems to be. Think of that which makes up a person, of weaknesses and doubts,' Zwanziger said.

The president of Enke's club Martin Kind paid a tribute to the goalkeeper.

'His way of dealing with fans won him many admirers. He was not a star who thought he was better than others. He was one of them and he saved us on many occasions.'

   Shortly before the memorial ceremony started team-mates from the Germany side had laid a wreath at the coffin, which is standing in the middle of the stadium.

   Some 40,000 fans, players and officials were in the AWD Arena to pay their last respects to the goalkeeper, who also played for several other clubs, including Borussia Moenchengladbach, Benfica Lisbon and Barcelona.

   The service, which is being attended by the who's who of German sport and politics, is being televised live on several television stations in Germany.

   Enke will be laid to rest during a private funeral later Sunday in the cemetery where his two-year-old daughter Lara, who died in 2006 of a rare heart condition, is also buried.