IS FOOTBALL DANGEROUS?

Bush Advocate, Issue 351, 9 August 1890, Page 7

IS FOOTBALL DANGEROUS?

At the close of the Association ties I jot down (writes a correspondent in the Pall Mull Gazette) for the benefit of thoso who are interested in tho above question some of the casualties of the 1889-90 football season. I must say at the outset that the following statistics have been compiled from the ordi nary daily papers, and are only those. that meot the eye of the general reader. I have not gone out of my way to consult the sporting journals or the day books of the British hospitals. Had I done so, no doubt the butcher's bill would have been a much more ghastly one than it is. Here, then, follow the "accidents," snipped out of the newspapers in chronological sequence : — j September 7, 1889.— T. Spittle, playing j with the Sraallheath Alliance Eeservos, at Birmingham, was struck in the abdomen by i the knee of an opponent, and received internal injuries from which he died the following week. October 1. — Tom Fox, miner, Leeds road, Carlton, died from injuries received when taking part in a Carlton match. During a "scrummage" Fox cried, "Oh, my neck," and fell back with a broken spine, October 5. — Quarrel at football between Spilsbury and Randall, at Kidderminster ; Spilsbury threw a brick at Randall, smashing his skull in a terrible manner, so that Randall died in a few hours. November 2. — James Sherlock dropped dead while playing football in Falls Par!:, Belfast. " After dinner he ran all the way j to the field." On the same day, Oswald, j captain of the Notts county, got his collar- j bone broken in a match against Bromley. November 18. — A youth named Meredith, ' playing at Bootle in a match, tripped and fell, j He complained of feeling unwell, and " died ! on the following Wednesday from sliock to ' ! the brain and spinal cord." November 22. — A student named Cheesman was violently kicked in the spine during a football match at the Winchester training | college, " and little hopes were entertained as to hia recovery." <(An inquest was held on his body on 2nd December.) November 23.— At Belfast, John M'Bain had his leg broken whilst playing with the Belfast Caledonians against Black Water. Calvert suffered a fraoture of hia knee-cap in a juniors' match, at the same place, and on the same day, December 26. — Arthur E. Polton, fourteen, expired suddenly whilst playing football in the Kingston recreation-ground. " Having played a quiet game with eleven other hoys for about an hour, he was seen to lie down on his stomach, and put his hands to his face, as if he were resting. Soon afterwards he turned on to his back, clenched his fists, and threw his legs about. A lad picked some grass, and placed it on his forehead. He became black in the face. Some of his companions took off his collar and loosened his shirt, and his mother was fetched. Dr. Biddle and Dr. Capes were soon in attendance, but they found life to be extinct. The jury returned a verdict of death from natural causes." December 28 was a field-day at Bolton, " The hard ground worked havoo with football players in this district to-day. Timmin3, the famous half-back of the West Bromwich Albions, retired with a limb broken; Barbour, formerly the Renton captain, had to leave the field hurt. In the match Nolson v. , Rossendale, Graham, the North End back, had his collar-bone broken, and Shepherd was severely injured in the Newton Heath Central v. Macclesfield match." December 30. — Lieutenant Lyon, of the Somerset Regiment, was injured in a match at Weston-super-Mare, and died of concussion of tbe brain and internal hemorrhage, without having regained conscioiisness. January 10, 1890. — From the consequences of a disaster at football, particulars not given, a young man at Sligo died, and was buried on this date. ' January 18. — Mr. E. A. Hart sustained a broken collar-bone in an association game at Scarborough. Mr. George Kendall Hext, a solicitor of King street, Portman Square, had the cartilage of his right knee displaced in playing 1 in a match at the Lambeth Palace grounds, between Carter's eleven and St. Andrew's-achool. i January 26. — A serious accident befelj England, the Newport back, at Penarth, in the football match between Penarth and Nowport. He was " upset by a couplo of tho homo team," and had his thigh frac- 1 tured. | February 1. — At East Acton, Colemvvn, half-back for Fulham, in Fulham v. Stanley, ■ " was so unfortunate in meeting an opposing player as to have his leg broken just below the knee. He was immediately conveyed to the West London hospital." Fobruary B—ln8 — In a match between Torquay j Athletic and Paignton Scarlet Runners, aj player named Hill had his leg broken. The { match had been arranged for the benefit of a I player of Paignton, who Is suffering from a 1 similar casualty sustained at a meeting of tho , two teams early in the season. j February B— Alfred Cummings, a private j in the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment, was tackled by an opponent when running with ( the ball in a match of the Salford Free j Wanderers' Football Club. Cumminga " fell j heavily to tho ground," and died at Man- 1 Chester .from tho effects of the severe blow on ; the head. t February 22. — In an Association football , match at Birmingham a young man named Collins, of Coventry, playing full back for ) Singer's Club against tho Smallhoath Re-j server*, wag heading a ball, when he slipped, I and another player named Bnshell fell upon j him. Collin.s's spine was injured, and he] lies in a paralysed condition in the Binning- \ ham General Hospital, hia lif e being despaired j of. _ | March 8. — HorsingtoH, forward, in Royal ] Arsenal v. Old Westminsters, injured his j head and had to leave. March 15. — While William Ferricr, a young man of twenty, of a good Edinburgh < family, was playing in the Grange team in a Rugby match against Walkerburn, at Waikerburn, Peeblesshire, he secured the ball, and rushed for tho goal, j A Walkerburn player charged, and i collided with Ferriev, who was struck on tho stomach, and dropped insensible, dying subsequently from concussion of tho brain. Tho Walkerbuni Club cancelled tho remaining fixtures for tho season. : March 22. — At the Association Distillery , v. Linfield match, Belfast, Allister got his I leg broken. (It i.s further reported that as tho match was drawing" to a e.loso the play became exceptionally rough, and one player, after having been twice cautioned for tripping, was ordered off tho field.) March 22. — A young man named Shoepmith, while playing in a Rugby football match at Whitworth, recoived injuries to \ tho spino from which ho died iv terrible I agony. I March 29. — This melancholy list closes by recording the death of Smith, of St. Helens, who waa injured at a match at "West Luigh, and died on Tuesday of paralysis and | fractured spine. During tho season references, without | particulars, havo been made to accidents in- ' ; curred in football by Geary, Stoddart, Wiuterbotham, and Bousor (Cork hulf-back) ; whilo two well-known players, Hay and Drabble, havo, porhaps, testified to some indirect, ill effect of tho game by a suicide and sudden death respectively.