In the summer of 2022 in Milton Keynes, England, the stadium had a quiet dressing room. The Finnish women’s national football team sat there. The just-suffered defeat to Denmark meant that Finland’s journey in the European Championships would end in the group stage.
The closest to scoring a goal in the match was a substitute on the field in the final minutes Jenny Danielsson, who shot from a distance. The television camera took a close-up shot.
In the close-ups, you could see a darkening that was on top of the upper lip. During the summer, Danielsson’s face had a pigment disorder. The situation was new to him and caused uncertainty.
In the locker room, Danielsson looked at his phone, the screen of which showed a sad message. “Why does a man play in the women’s league, can you give me mustache tips, you’re fat and ugly,” the message read.
The message made the already disappointed Danielsson feel even worse.
According to Danielsson, such messages are hardly discussed within the team. Also, the fear of losing his image and the reaction of coaching or sponsors has made him keep silent about his psychological difficulties.
– Sometimes I have felt that I should explain that everything is fine, even though I am not feeling well. It’s like explaining that the calf didn’t tear, even though it did, Danielsson opens up about his feelings.
In sports, you know what to do and who to turn to when your leg hurts. In the case of mental injuries, the treatment path is often still unclear.
When the self-image is equal to a football player
Danielsson, who represented Helmari for years, grew up in yard games, surrounded by boys. Through football, he has become seen and respected. He feels that his self-image was strongly built on sports at an early stage.
In the face of criticism, Danielsson says he is very vulnerable. Whether it’s feedback from family, coaches, fans or social media, it goes straight to the deepest part of me.
Danielsson has thrived best in environments where he has also been seen as a person behind the player. As a result, he has come to believe that other things matter too.
For Danielsson, football is a big part of his identity and work. For financial reasons, his career has been focused abroad. In Scotland, where the fan culture is strong, he was well received.
– At first, the glow was a little too much. But after an important lost match, the crowd heard: go home, you don’t deserve to play for this logo and why can’t you do better. This is now being polite compared to what it actually was, Danielsson remembers his Rangers days.
While playing in Sweden, Danielsson dealt with, among other things, a death threat that appeared on his phone after the match. Part of the team had received a similar message. This is where the limit was crossed, when the messages were also discussed within the team.
Danielsson feels that he is left alone with psychologically difficult things. He says that loneliness has been the heaviest thing in his career. Countries and clubs change, so it has been challenging to create new deep friendships.
In times of adversity, the closest people are far away. When he returns home, however, Danielsson feels that even then he is seen primarily as a football player.
– It is very difficult to change that. I would like to show everyone how I have grown as a person. But it’s hard for me to talk about what a brutal journey this has been. Maybe I’m afraid that some image of me will be ruined, Danielsson reflects.
In an athlete’s life, protective factors compete against risk factors
A sports psychologist who works with both club and national teams at the Tampere Sports Academy Tiina Röning talks about the protective factors of the mind. They refer to various means and resources that people use to maintain their mental well-being. Protective factors should be strengthened at home.
– We are built in such a way that a person survives when there are more protective factors than risk factors. If there are two crises on top of each other, you may not be able to survive alone, Röning opens the way of the mind.
According to Röning, the healthy world of values at home is a strong protective factor for the child in the future. It would be good for the child to build an identity based on diverse experiences and values. Sports success or academic achievements do not make a person more valuable.
If the identity “our football player” is too easily reinforced around a young child playing sports, it can be a risk factor in the future. For Röning, it is important that the close circle supports the child in finding a balanced life, which includes not only sports but also other interests and social relationships.
Röning says that it is also good for parents to remind them where the sport started. It’s great if the child who fell in love with the sport still lives inside the athlete. According to Röning, it is also a protective factor.
A young athlete’s struggle with depression
It is the love for the sport that keeps Danielsson going in difficult moments. He dreads the day football ends. He doesn’t know how else to be useful and relevant in this society.
What happens if football stops or takes a break unexpectedly?
Ilona Pihlaja was only 14 years old when the anterior knee ligament broke in a match. Football was Pihlaja’s great passion, around which the performance-oriented youngster had built his life and set high goals.
Football was no longer a central part of Pihlaja’s everyday life in the same way when he rehabilitated his knee. Exercises and games were replaced by solitary rehabilitation.
Rowan began to question her worth as a person. Thoughts became gloomy and depression crept into the picture.
After the knee was rehabilitated, Pihlaja felt that his role on the playing fields had changed. Playing football no longer felt the same due to depression. Little by little, a dislike for the whole sport arose. The feeling of insignificance and worthlessness led to self-destruction. However, letting go was difficult. Giving up football was scary.
– My identity was so strongly built around it. After quitting, there was emptiness. All that was left was sadness and shame. I felt like I had nothing, didn’t even want to live, Pihlaja opens up about her difficult time.
I’m definitely not the only one who has been on the sidelines for a long time due to injury. Still, I got depressed, it happened to me quite differently than others. Many just get stronger and come back better. I’m too weak and bad if I can’t handle it.
Ilona Pihlaja’s diary
At the age of 17, Pihlaja wrote this text in his diary. He says he searched online for athletes who had suffered from depression. They were not found then. He felt he was the only one and alone. Peer experiences have since become public. Mental health problems are no longer taboo.
Reconstructed self-image
Rowan received professional help. It took years to recover, but he survived. 25-year-old Pihlaja, who is graduating as a sociologist, now knows who he is without football.
– There is much more to life, but when I was young I lived in the moment. Back then, it was hard to understand that the future would still come. New dreams had to be created and it took time, Pihlaja recalls.
Pihlaja also sees a lot of good in the years played. It has been difficult for him to find similar experiences that he got on the field at his best.
– I am also especially happy for those friends who have missed the football games. I support and encourage from the bottom of my heart those who are still playing and I do follow the games of Helmare, smiles Pihlaja.
There are just as many physical and mental injuries in sports
According to Röning, there is still room to do better in Finnish sports, when it is known that exceptional situations, such as injuries or the end of a career, are likely moments for an athlete when protective mechanisms are tested.
It would be important to make sure that each expert can focus on their own areas of strength. Coaching doesn’t have to have the answers to everything, as long as it’s caring. It is very important to stop and ask how the athlete is doing and if he needs anything, Röning describes.
When your leg hurts in sports, you know whose expertise it belongs to. The focus is also on preventive measures even more carefully.
On the psychological side, the path is often still a work in progress. According to Röning, however, there are just as many physical and mental injuries in sports, and one cannot be ignored.
– At best, the first line in everyday activities is often a psychological coach, who has a participating role and works with the whole team, including coaching. Participating expertise has a significant impact on prevention, Röning states.