TV: Depression in Sport

Last night BBC1 screened an Inside Sport special on depression in sport. Featuring interviews with Marcus Trescothick, Neil Lennon, Frank Bruno, John Kirwan and Ronnie O’Sullivan, it was a revealing insight into the particular pressures that this condition places on professional sportsmen and women, and is well worth a watch. It can be viewed on the iPlayer until 2 December, or perhaps you can find it elsewhere online.

One of the things the programme highlighted was how attitudes have improved in just the last ten years, and this is good for everyone. Understanding of the issues involved can only improve the relationships between players and fans, players and coaches, and players and their fellow players, and this leads to a better standard of sport, a more welcoming culture, and most importantly, to more support for those in need of it.

Inside Sport is not perfect, and neither was this episode; some of the stories would not have been new to those who have closely followed the stories of Trescothick et al in recent years, and whilst the analysis touched on the deeper issues, it would have been nice to investigate them more closely. In general too, not all the reports in the programme’s existence have been so revealing. However, it has overall turned out to be a high quality programme, exploring some interesting stories.

An episode like this one shows the value of high quality investigative sports journalism a market saturated by the superficial, and highlights the niche that the show occupies. It is hard to see where else such a documentary would have been shown within the sports media.