Sunleye-Solawumi Olaleye
13 January 2009
analysis
Lagos — Any coach or player will tell you that injuries are part and parcel of football. In the modern era, footballers can consider themselves lucky if they go through their careers without having a break, tear or rupture, but there are some injuries that should just never happen to a professional player
The older generation, who are not active sports people, know injury can happen within the house, even when they were not engaging in any hard play or serious or strenuous activities. Anyone above the age of 40 can have a joint dislocation just having to cross from the sitting room to the bedroom. However, what is generally not known is that, as fit and physically conditioned as professional athletes are and look, these kinds of injuries can happen to them too. In football, unforced injuries are the game's tales of the unexpected.
In Nigeria, two great examples of football tales of the unexpected would suffice to illustrate this phenomenon.
-Kingsley Onye: one of the greatest examples of football tales of the unexpected happened in 1985 to the great Nigerian club of the era, Leventis United.
The team had signed on one of the greatest emergent players of the age, Kingsley Onye, from Rangers International. But as it would happen, Onye ended up not ever playing one full game for his new club. In fact, United would end up the last big club he ever signed for in his career, no thanks to an injury he sustained on his first and last match for the team, against, coincidentally, the same Rangers from whom he had been acquired.
It was the opening of the 1985 season Champion of Champions Cup match, which usually in those days. kicked off the season. The match took place inside the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.
Having just been promoted to the top division, one of the players United went for, who they believed would be the key to linking their defence with the attack in the most seamless manner, was this young, sleek central operator, Onye.
But no sooner they signed him, did they find out he was not in as fit a form as they had thought he was. But a few weeks after obtaining his signature, he had started to return to good form.
Then, with just about a week to the take off of the season, the team had the Champion of Champions match against Rangers, who were League champions; United having won the FA Challenge Cup at the end of the 1984 season.
Since he was just staging his return to competitive matches from injury state, United started him on the bench. At half time, he was introduced into the match. But unfortunately, the first time he was going to touch the ball was right in the middle of his own half when he moved in quickly to dispossess a Rangers' midfielder who had possession and was planning an attacking pass.
The Rangers man saw him coming at him from behind, through the corner of his eye, and turned dramatically as Onye lunged. The dispossessing leg tackle from behind that Onye launched, missed as the Rangers player had swerved 90 degrees away.
The miss made Onye to dislocate something; a hip joint, ankle or knee. So, without having touched the ball once since he came into the match, he was stretchered off. As it would happen, he treated the injury for the rest of the season. But having not recovered well enough for top competitive matches, he was eventually released by United. Onye would never be seen with any other big team, either at home in Nigeria, or abroad. And like that, went the career of one of the smoothest defensive midfield operators in the modern history of Nigeria's club game.
-Kayode Keshiro: Another great example in football tales of the unexpected happened to this Nigeria Under-17 player of Scotland '89.
When this Sebastian Brodericks Imasuen's side were preparing for the Scotland competition, they were permanently camped in Bauchi and were living at the posh Awalah Hotel, at an outskirt point of the town.
Although Keshiro wore the Number, 7 for the team, but he was in reality, the main striker. With just about three months left to the competition, he was on top of his game. Then the team had one friendly match to play, against a league team. On the eve of the game, just after the evening training, where Keshiro had performed creditably and was on fire at the area, he was walking along the hotel corridor, on his way back from the restaurant. One of his teammates was walking down from the opposite direction. That teammate was a defender, and his usual positional opponent in training. When they met at the corridor, the defender made a mock move as if to disposess striker Keshinro of the ball. Keshinro reflexively reacted with a feint, as if he was with the ball and was trying to round up his opponent. It was a classic defender versus attacker move, or vice versa, and it was as if they were on the pitch. But without the two touching each other, that simple playful gesture ended up with Keshinro straining a thigh injury, and he was immediately limping.
Of course, he was out of the friendly match of the second day. Without knowing what happened in their camp the previous night, when the Under-17 team could not score after over 60 minutes, with Keshinro on the bench mopping, fans who had seen his radiant performance just a day before, started raining abusive words at the coaching crew, believing Coach Brodericks was not featuring him because of some dubious agenda.
Keshinro was out for three weeks as a result of that playful hotel lobby body movement.
New researches in sports medicine have now made it clear that injuries can happen anywhere and to anyone in any age category, and notwithstanding the forum - whether they were on the sports ground or within the comfortable zone of their homes.
In the section below that is like a cavalcade of calamities in the game, are examples of how injuries can happen anywhere, any time, night or day, and how there is nothing that can be done to avoid them. Even stretching out in the morning after waking up can be a dangerous routine sometimes.
-Leroy Lita: When it comes to matters of injuries, a footballer may not even be safe in his own bed, as this former England U-21 international had discovered. The Reading striker damaged a leg muscle through stretching after waking up one morning.
-Santiago Canizares: Don't ever think because it is your bathroom, then you are safe. Players should watch out for pitfalls even while taking their shower, as this Spain goalkeeper found out on the eve of a World Cup Finals. After accidentally shattering a bottle of aftershave in his hotel sink, a piece of glass fell on his foot, severing a tendon in his big toe, making him to miss out his place in the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan team.
-Alan Mullery: missed England's 1964 tour of South America pulling the muscles of his back out while brushing his teeth. while
-Ramalho: This Brazilian was forced to stay in bed for three days after swallowing a suppository meant to treat a dental infection.
-Darren Barnard: People say that dogs are man's best friend. Not so. Take the example of this Wales international who slipped in a puddle of his puppy's urine on the kitchen floor. The resulting knee ligament damage kept him out for five months.
-Liam Lawrence: This Stoke City midfielder was recently injured when falling over his dog.
-Carlo Cudicini and Julien Escude were injured while out walking their dogs.
-Friedel Rausch: In 1969, this Schalke player was bitten in the bottom by the German shepherd of a guard during a derby match against Borussia Dortmund.
-Chic Brodie: The worse career dog injury, probably, that could ever happen to a player was the case of Brodie, a Brendford goalkeeper in his day. His career came to a premature end when he collided with a sheepdog, which had run on to the pitch. Brodie shattered his kneecap while the dog got the ball. "The dog might have been a small one, but it just happened to be a solid one," he reflected.
-Svein Grondalen: Perhaps footballers should not work around animals, or children in general. During the 1970s, this Norway player had to withdraw from an international match after an accident which happened while he was out jogging. He collided with a moose.
Even children, including one's own child, could be the sore treat in incurring injuries:
-David Batty: This England midfielder's return from an Achilles tendon injury was put back when he was run over by his toddler on a tricycle.
-Allan Nielsen: Denmark's Nielsen missed several matches after his daughter poked him in the eye.
-Charlie George: Another message should be: avoid home improvements. Arsenal hero, George, never fully recovered from cutting off his big toe with a lawnmower
-Gregory Coupet: This France's goalkeeper had to go out for two weeks after cutting two of his fingers while trying to install a shelf at home.
-Michael Stensgaard: Former Liverpool reserve goalkeeper, Stensgaard, was forced to retire after suffering an injury to his shoulder while he attempted to fold down an ironing board.
-Richard Wright: Everton goalkeeper, Wright, did not fare much better when he got his. He was ruled out of the Toffees' FA Cup replay at Chelsea after suffering a freak injury during the warm-up. He ignored a notice warning him not to practice in the goalmouth and promptly fell over the sign, suffering a twisted ankle. Earlier in his Goodison career, Wright also damaged his shoulder falling through a loft as he was trying to pack away his suitcases.
-Norbert Nigbur: Still on goalkeepers, perhaps there is just something special about them. This German international's football career was all but finished when he managed to tear the meniscus cartilage in his knee, locking it in the process, while standing up to leave the table at the end of a meal in a restaurant in 1980.
-Alex Stepney: In 1975, this Manchester United goalkeeper managed to dislocate his jaw while shouting at his defenders during a game against Birmingham City.
-Milan Rapaic: As in all tales of the unexpected, there are some, which would be just too bizarre to categorise. It is the same for those in football. For instance, Rapaic once missed the start of Hajduk Split's season after sticking his boarding pass in his eye at the airport.
- Lionel Letizi: While playing scrabble, Letizi of Paris Saint-Germain strained his back trying to pick up a piece from the floor and consequently missed months of training.
-Sascha Bender: The cause of the injury to the face of this lower division side, Stuttgart Kickers' player, is indeed most bizarre. His team-mate, Christian Okpala, had punched him to have his facial bones rearranged because of mere gullet wind passing; farting. Okpalla would give the following explanation to the media: "He permanently provoked me by farting all the time."
-Goal Celebration Injuries: Players should also watch how they celebrate goals. Both Thierry Henry and Marco Tardelli have been injured by corner flags hitting them in the face after scoring, when they had ran to the poor thing to hold it in their happiness. Also, Arsenal substitute, Perry Groves, once knocked himself unconscious after hitting his head on the roof of the dug-out while jumping up after an Arsenal goal.
But perhaps the strangest goal-related injury occurred in December 2004, when, after scoring against Schaffhausen, Servette midfielder Paulo Diogo jumped into the crowd. On the way, he managed to catch his wedding ring on a fence and tore off the top half of his finger. The referee had little sympathy; he booked him for excessive celebration.
-Knightly Rage: Sir Alex Ferguson, in one moment of the unexpected, once let fly a boot at David Beckham after Arsenal's FA Cup win at Old Trafford in 2003. Beckham needed stitches above his left eye for the injury.
-An Arsenal defender back in the early 1990s, scored a rare goal and in celebration, all his teammates jumped on him. When he got up, it turned out they broke one of his ribs.
-Fabian Espínola: (Real Salt Lake) was celebrating a goal against LA Galaxy in an MLS game, when he tried to do a jump like Hugo Sánchez usually does, but ended up with a broken leg. The disaster of it all was that the goal was not allowed to stand because the referee ruled he was on off side position when he got the pass.
-Emerson: The day before Brazil's Korea/Japan 2002 opener against Turkey, Emerson took part in a relaxing training session, going in goal during a kick-around. However, the Seleçao captain injured his shoulder, causing him to miss the tournament, which Brazil went on to win.
-Darius Vassell: However, despite all of these trials and tribulations, the lesson to any footballer reading these tales should be: if you get injured, leave your treatment to the professionals. In 2003, Vassell injured himself while attempting DIY (Do It Yourself) surgery on his own foot. He had a blood blister under the toenail on his big toe, and used a power drill to break through the nail, and drain the wound. Drilling to drain such blisters is not an uncommon procedure, but normally it is conducted by a qualified person, under sterile conditions. Vassell made it worse, picked up an infection, and had to have half the nail removed.
-A player once pulled a muscle in his shoulder while doing a throw-in during a major match.
-One player had been diagnosed once to having hurt his back while receiving a pass from his teammate during a match.
-A player once wrote to FIFA anonymously, telling how, while he was running with the ball, he suddenly felt both his legs cramped up and he fell to the ground. Then, the referee, thinking he had dived to gain a penalty, gave him a yellow even though he was trying to tell him he didn't. As it would happen, he ended up not able to come back for the game after his treatment.
-In hockey, Jason Spezza of the Ottawa Senators sprained his ankle shopping and was out of his team for about a month.
-An Australian cricketer, Glenn McGrath, some years past, was doing warm up before a game, but sprained his ankle when he stepped on a cricket ball.
-An Australian Rules player missed some matches in 2008 because he slipped in his bathroom and hit his head on the sink, knocking himself unconscious.
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