If Fabrice Muamba’s case sent ripples across European football, then D. Venkateshan’s death in an A-division match hosted by the Bangalore District Football Association made Indians realise how important medical facilities are during a sporting event.
Muamba, who is now recovering, was given immediate treatment on the field before being stretchered off and transported to a hospital.
India's Singh and Lawrence lie on the ground next to goalkeeper Paul during their 2011 Asian Cup Group C soccer match. Reuters
But with Venkateshan, that was not meant to be. There was no ambulance on the scene and the players and a physio had to perform basic treatment to try and revive him.
However, the All India Football Federation believes that they alone can’t be blamed for such incidents.
“Take any player – Baichung (Bhutia), (Sunil) Chhetri, be it anyone, they are just not fit enough. One side of the story is that the clubs and the federations are blamed. But it is also up to the players to maintain themselves. Some of them have a very undisciplined life. These are supposed to be the most fit athletes, but it is far from that.,” said an unnamed source in the AIFF.
“To be very frank, even when the Indian team went to the AFC, our players were unfit. They need to be at their peak during the middle of the season.”
He also compared athletes from other sports: “Cricketers are not dying, hockey players are not dying… why are only football players dying? I don’t think they take enough care of themselves. The coaches have to work really hard to push them to peak fitness before a season.”
Venkateshan is not the first Indian player to suffer from such a Sudden Death Syndrome. Sanjib Dutta, midfielder for Mohun Bagan, lost his life after a player’s elbow sank into his chest during a tackle in 1993.
Dempo’s Cristiano Junior, who collapsed after a collision with Subrata Paul in 2004 is also one of the high-profile incidents. Even at that time, hospital officials said that there was no request made for doctors to be at the match.
In another incident, HAL goalkeeper Arun Kumar had died of a heart-attack after a collision during training in 2011.
“I am not saying that the federations are not partly responsible. The AIFF makes sure there are two ambulances and one doctor before kick-off in tournaments that we host. What happened with Venkateshan is regrettable and we have asked for an explanation from the federation responsible for the tournament.”
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