It says a lot about a football match when the main talking point from it appears to be a politicised debate about FA protocol. Indeed Sunday’s Premier League second place shootout between Tottenham and Everton was hardly a game to get you off your seats, but still the degree of coverage given to the Lukaku/Lloris incident is perhaps a little surprising.
TV, radio, the written and online press have been dominated by this story, but in my opinion the condemnation of Spurs as a club is totally unjustified.
Sunday’s incident was a clear coming together, with no apparent malicious intent from either player. Lloris, who was knocked out cold, was deemed fit to play on by the Spurs medical team, and as such completed the final ten or so minutes with little obvious issue.
However, this didn’t stop a vast array of interest groups and individuals having their say on the matter. It appears Tottenham are in the dock accused of endangering the health of one of their players
Fifpro’s medical adviser Vincent Gouttebarge said:
“This decision is unacceptable.”
“Fifpro condemns that the health and safety of players are left to coaches, trainers – or even to players themselves.”
“Medical professionals should be aware of any relevant medical guidelines and apply them in order to empower the health and safety on the field.”
Leading brain charity Headway’s spokesman Luke Griggs added:
“We are hugely concerned that a professional football club should take such an irresponsible and cavalier attitude to a player’s health.”
“When a player suffers a blow to the head that is severe enough for them to lose consciousness, it is vital they urgently seek appropriate medical attention.”
Much of this criticism though is totally misguided, Spurs as you would expect from a club of their stature and reputation followed the guidelines set in place by English footballs governing bodies. Both of the on-field medical staff followed Premier League rule 0.6 and FA rule 2.7 that states that the final decision as to whether a player who has suffered a head injury should remain on the field, has to be taken by a “qualified medical practitioner”.
It is difficult to argue in the case of a head injury that anything is an overreaction; you only have to look to sports like Rugby, Boxing and American Football to release the potential severity of a blow to the head. AVB is right though to point out that clearly incidents in football are totally different due to the nature of the game, the club treated the Lloris incident as a specific case and dealt with it accordingly.
If there is an issue here then it is for the FA and the respective bodies to change the law, because as it stands it appears Spurs dealt with the whole incident as the rules dictate. Castigating the medical team is not only misguided but in my opinion totally wrong.
AVB was quick to offer his unequivocal support to his staff, both of whom have suffered significant blows to their reputation during this past week. Responding to the incident the manager had the following to say:
“My understanding is that I stand absolutely by the decision that I took, and the decision that the medical department has taken following the checks that they made on the player – all of which were according to the book.”
“I stand by the decisions that gave us the green light for the player to continue.”
“I register the fact that a couple of people have taken this opportunity to find a chance to get themselves publicised – people who have had no experience on the pitch whatsoever in this type of situations.”
“And I register the fact that two persons – and the medical department – that two years ago saved the life of a player on the pitch has been completely forgotten, poorly treated and badly respected by lots of opinion-makers.”
Many have treated the medical team at Spurs as almost comparable to the water boy at a Sunday league game with some magic spray and a sponge. Shabaaz Mughal and Geoff Scott are both a qualified doctor and physio respectively and not the kind of clueless Mickey Mouse outfit as they are being made out to be. Carrying out their job to the best of their abilities they deemed the player fit to continue, and AVB with that information and under protocol gave the signal to let Lloris continue.
The outpouring of opinion is justifiable, but in my view misdirected. If there is a genuine issue here then it is with the laws and protocol of the governing bodies rather than in the form of a scathing attack on Spurs’ medical staff.
Have Spurs been unfairly treated over this one?
