African sporting codes should be warned by Erikson collapse
African sports should be warned by Erikson collapse
JOHANNESBURG, June 18 (ANA) – Danish footballer Christian Erikson’s collapse and near death experience during his side’s Euro 2020 group match against Finland over the weekend highlight the need for quick medical assistance which saved his life, but just how readily available is such support in African sport?
South Africa’s Premier Soccer League has some of the best facilities on the continent and adhere well to international standards. The same can be said for the other major sports in the country like rugby and cricket.
Even before rugby turned professional, at the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa – paramedics were able to administer life-saving procedures for Ivory Coast’s Max Brito. Ivory Coast were playing Tonga in a group match in Rustenburg on June 3, when Brito was tackled with the ball and fell badly as his spinal cord was severed at the fifth vertebra. Though the paramedics were able to save his life, he was paralysed and 26 years later he is only able to tap his fingers and has half the normal range of movement in his arms.
However, the rest of Africa is some way behind the Rainbow Nation. Football leagues across the continent in East and Central Africa lag some way behind.
Two well-known cases of African footballers collapsing on the pitch and subsequently dying are Cameroon’s Marc-Vivien Foe and Ivory Coast’s Cheick Tiote.
Though both players were playing overseas at the time of their deaths, the pair suffered fatal heart attacks while competing.
On June 26, 2003, Foe was playing for Cameroon against Colombia in Lyon, France, when he collapsed in the 72nd minute of the match with no other players near him. Medical personnel spent 45 minutes attempting to resuscitate him but were unsuccessful. Foe died aged 28.
Tiote, in contrast, was simply busy with a training session for his Chinese football club Beijing Enterprises on June 5, 2017, when he collapsed and died. Though he was quickly attended to, medics were unable to save his life and he died at the age of 30.
It’s curiously difficult to find out medical information on the smaller sporting leagues across Africa. This leads to speculation that there could be a number of medical emergencies across the various sporting codes that are not attended to in time – but again this is difficult to prove due to lack of available information.
On a slightly different note, last month during an African Confederation Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Jaraaf and Coton Sport in Thiès, Senegal, the security was so loose that the match officials were attacked after the final whistle.
The extent of the injuries to the officials was not established, and were therefore dismissed as minor. However, it’s difficult to imagine an incident like this occurring in Europe or some of the top leagues in the world. Had any of the officials required serious medical attention, it could have proved a disaster.
With Erikson recovering well in hospital following a surgery where a ‘heart-starter’ was fitted, his story has once again shone a light on the urgent need for medical assistance at any sporting event. One can only hope the warning is heeded. – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman
