Freddie Flintoff’s celebration after defeating the Australians at the Ashes in 2005 is one of the most iconic moments of success in British sport. Unfortunately, it was only a year and a half later that Mr Flintoff became seriously depressed and turned to alcohol, having said that he has lost any joy that he once had in the game of cricket.
He’s recently commented about that time in his life saying, “At the time I had no idea what was wrong with me, I went to the doctors several times for many tests to see why I was suddenly so depressed, but unfortunately no medical answer was forthcoming.”
Flintoff became a hero after his victory in 2005 and he was awarded with the MBE and given the Sports Personality of the Year award. In 2006 and 2007 however, England suffered a humiliating defeat to Australia and the ashes returned there. Mr Flintoff is now in his mid-30s and there is a BBC documentary covering the time of his life when he was most in despair.
This documentary is called The Hidden Side of Sport and in it he details how he broke down in 2006 and said that he could no longer go on playing cricket. He quickly plastered over this despair and continued playing cricket but he was never quite the same.
Mr Flintoff says, “It was very strange because by this point I had become financially successful and I was the captain of one of the best cricket teams in the world. When I went out to face Australia for those next Ashes matches I was not filled with confidence however and I simply did not want to play.”
Flintoff was born in Lancashire and in his years playing cricket he became known for his ability to drink heavily but it was never seen as a major health concern for him. However, when he became more depressed alcohol became a large part of the problem and led to an embarrassing incident occurred in 2007 when he had to be rescued at sea after he fell off a pedalo because he was drunk.
“I found it impossible to shut off my mind after a game,” the player continued, “therefore I started drinking to block out how I felt and I quickly reached the point where I realised I should be drinking less. I went to the doctor but they did not think it was depression. I remember very clearly a win we had in the West Indies during this time and despite the celebrations of the rest of the team all I wanted was to be alone.”
Flintoff retired from the sport in 2010 and he is married with three children, and all of his work these days consists of broadcasting. When he looks back on his career he comments that one of the greatest problems is that the public have no idea how you actually feel. He says, “You develop a persona that people come to know you by and mine was a fun loving guy, but in reality I was not having so much fun.”
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