Footballing Injuries

Posted on: 26 March 2010

I have an odd fascination of horrific injuries to the body, bred - I suppose - from a natural curiosity of the human body. At the same time, this stuff really grosses me out. But I suppose it's true what they say, human curiosity knows no bounds. If you're weak stomached, I suggest not reading on.

With the injuries some footballers pick up, it really puts into perspective how fragile the human body is. One mistimed tackle and - snap - there goes your leg. Here's a couple of examples:

Petr Cech

Petr Cech's injury in October 2006. Not particularly gruesome, but still pretty hard-hitting. Cech almost died from a fractured skull, caused by the knee of Stephen Hunt, an opposing striker. Cech is now forced to wear protective headwear when he plays but was miraculously out of action for a mere 3 months.

Stephen Hunt on Petr Cech

Djibril Cisse

Djibril Cisse had his leg broken by a reckless challenge from an opposition player when playing for Liverpool. Cisse suffered a "comminuted fracture of the tibia and fracture of the fibula", which typically means the bone has been broken in more than two places. And this all came from a fairly innocent-looking challenge, and as you can see from the image, it really doesn't take much to snap a bone. Unfortunately for Cisse, he went on to break his leg again playing for his country. Now that's just bad luck.

Jay McEveley on Djibril Cisse

Eduardo

Here you can see a challenge on Arsenal player Eduardo in February 2008. He suffered a broken left fibula and an open dislocation of his left ankle. Something about the word "open" in that sentence doesn't settle quite nicely. As you can see from the image, this was about as reckless as challenges come, and shows just how physical the game of football can get.

Martin Taylor on Eduardo

David Busst

Easily the worst injury in footballing history was to David Busst whilst playing for Coventry against Man Utd in 1996. Busst suffered an extensive compound fractures to both the tibia and fibula of his right leg following a challenge from two Man United defenders. His bone pierced his skin, and the game had to be stopped for 12 minutes for the blood to be cleaned off the pitch. As in indicator of just how horrific the injury was, Man United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel reportedly vomited on the pitch after witnessing the injury, and had to have several weeks of counseling following the incident.

Denis Irwin and Brian McClair on David Busst

Despite the fragile nature of the human body, our ability to heal is a marvel that should not be taken for granted. The players listed above took less than a year to recover and continued to play football. I can't imagine what kind of psychological effects suffering an injury like that would cause, but I commend these players for getting back out on the pitch.

I think I've exercised enough of my masochistic side for one day.

(Note, I do not own any of the images featured. The images belong to their respective owners)