We Love You Freddie. Plus some seriousness

So there was a documentary on t'other night. Freddie Flintoff: Hidden Side of Sport.

In a nutshell, it was about sports pros who have suffered from depression at some point in their lives, an' how it affected them, their family an' friends and their career.

Now, we love Freddie in our house. He's the cheeky cricket chap from Preston who talks like me an' my lot, likes a drink an' has a funny sense of humour. But he's also suffered from the blues too. But the reason why I'm writing this now is because a former member of the rugby community has recently committed suicide.

Selorm Kuadey was an ex Sale Sharks winger who had to retire from rugby in 2010 due to serious injury. He went on to start a new career after obtaining a first-class honours degree in Human Biology. A clever bloke he was.

He was 24.

It makes you wonder really. All the fame, fortune an' all that doesn't protect anyone from something like depression. Anyone can suffer from it. It has been said that Selorm may have had some deep rooted psychological issues that may have driven him to do what he did. When you think about it, sports pros don't get it easy either. Being in the media's line of fire all the time, being scrutinised for every single little mishap or failure no matter how mediocre or stupid it may be. An' injury doesn't help either. Having some injury that threatens their career or may be even forces them to retire from it can't be good either. Selorm had a good decade left in him. It's rare you get a rugby player that has to retire so early but it does happen an' it's always due to a serious injury. Most usually get to their mid-thirties before they call it a day. But that's the way the cookie crumbles. It's sad.

RIP Selorm.