FOOTBALL ACCIDENTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2065, 14 June 1878, Page 5 (Supplement)

FOOTBALL ACCIDENTS.

A correspondent writes to the Pall Mall Gazette as follows : — Sir, — I should be the last to attempt tD throw cold water upon manly sports, or to condemn a pastime as ruffianly simply because of an element of personal danger m it. At the same time I cannot share the opinions expressed by so many of your contemporaries that the prosecution m the late fatal football case at Ashby-de-la-Zouch was ill advised, and that the verdict of the coroner's jury was improper. The evidence tends to show that the injury was occasioned, not by playing the genuine game, but by deviating from it. To form such an opinion, a critic must be personally experienced m the details of the game, and m the proper and "plucky" way of playing it. Those who are not au fait at the game will be prone to rush at one of the extreme conclusions ; either that the game must be a ruffianly one, because it has caused death m this case and has occasioned injury m many others ; or else that the fact of the fatality hswing happened m the course of play is of itself enough to absolve from blame the person causing the injury. Now the accident occurred thus : The clubs of Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Colville were matched at football. Two players of opposite sides charged each other ; the Colville player, Bradshaw, struck the Ashby player, Dockerty, m the stomach with his knee, internally rupturing him, and causing his death. Bradshaw was committed to take his trial for manslaughter at the late Leicester assizes. He was tried before Baron Bramwell, and was acquitted. The jury, having heard all the evidence laid before them as to the manner m which the injury was inflicted and the customary method of playing the game, may be technically cousidered to have been capable of finding a correct verdic'. At the same time, the nature of this same evidence proves that the inquiry was thoroughly justified. If the death of Dockerty had been caused by a simple fall, or by a collision of chest to chest — had he died from concussion of the brain or from a dislocation of the neck — I should have said that the occurrence, however lamentable and however unexperienced of ordinary football play, threw no responsibility on his antagonist. Bub Dockerty was struck m the stomach by his opponent's knee. Any football player will bear me out when I state that m a proper charge it should be impossible for a player's knee te be so elevated and projecting as to strike an opponent above the waist. Body to body, shoulder to shoulder, flank to flank, or leg to leg, are collisions for which every football player of English pluck must be prepared. He may perchance get a collar-bone broken ; he may even get hurled to the ground with sufficient violence to cause concussion ..of the brain. But such accidents are extraordinary exceptions, and do not on the average make the game one whit more dangerous than the risk of a year's perambulation of London streets. Barked shins, and perhaps a sprained ankle, every "game" player will be ready to risk. But it ib a cardinal rule of the game that a player must charge fairly with his body, and that he must not try to fend off the concussion by stretching out elbow or

knee to meet his antagonist. Want of pluck or of nerve may m the exciting moment of a charge cause a player to lose his head and flinch from a fair concussion of body to body. He may dread having the " wind " knocked out of him, or may fear a broken shin. So long as each keeps his feet down to aim at the ball, and his arms by his side, both players are reasonably safe ; but if either loses his head — "funks "at the last instant, and attempts to interpose elbow or kneejas a buffer — the consequences are likely to be dangerous. No man m the act of running and of kicking at a ball on the ground, would raise his knee to anything like the height of another man's stomach ; and if the ball was kicked at by him m the air, his foot at all events, and not his knee, would strike his opponent if he missed; the ball. Therefore, so long as the genuine game is played, accidents such as that which occurred at Ashby, are impossible. It is supposed, when two clubs send representatives, for a match, that all the players will be of sufficient coolness and experience to conform to this rule of charging. If a player is either clumsy, ignorant, or deficieut m nerve, he should at once be drafted from the team. Unfor- ! tunately, m all cases of unfair charging, the sufferer is the one who " plays the game." If two players both kick at the ball, and kick it at the same moment, no harm is done, though one may get a fall ; if one kicks at the ball but is too late, he may damage his opponent's ankle or foot by a severe kick, but is not likely to cause permanent injury. If, however one player flinches when the charge comes, and rises his foot to escape the risk of a kick from his adversary, he will meet the latter full m the middle of the shin bone, and run a reasonable risk of breaking his leg. Two cases of broken legs which came to my knowledge m schooldays occurred exactly m this way ; one player " funked," kicked too high, and broke the leg of another who pluckily kicked straight at the ball. Football players will agree with me when I say that if Mr Br'adahaw had not lost his nerve at the moment of the charge, his knee could never have been where it was. — I am, sir, your obedient servant, W. March 23.