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Hockey tragedies in the recent past
Phillip Hughes succumbed to his injuries after being hit on the head by a bouncer from Sean Abbott in a sheffield sheild match. Current and former cricketers, fans and others mourned the death of the talented Australian player. While the whole world was shocked at this incident, not many know of the death of a hockey player on the field.
We are talking about Lizzie Watkins who played for the North Coast Raiders in Australian State league. She died after the ball deflected off her stick and hit her straight on the head. Watkins passed away the next day after failing to recover from the head trauma. Her death has many similarities to the Hughes incident. Like Hughes, Watkins’ family were at the game. Like Hughes, she fell unconscious immediately and did not recover.
Post Hughes death, there were calls of introducing changes to the existing helmets and banning bouncers from the game. On the other hand, there was no thoughts of making hockey more safe for the players from the sport’s governing body. The Watkins case is not an isolated one.
On November 29,2014, two days after Hughes’ death, Sam Owen who plays for Blackpool second XI was struck on the head with a ball during a hockey match against against Bolton in North West Hockey League Division Four. He went into an induced coma after the incident and is still recovering after the surgery. The Hughes’ death has definitely caused the hockey administrators to think of introducing safety measures in the sport.
“Abolish penalty corners”
Ric Charlesworth, former coach of the Australian Women’s hockey team has called for the removal of penalty corners form hockey. ‘Face facts, in cricket 22 yards separate the bowler and a well- protected batsman,’ he says. ‘At a penalty corner, the distance is shorter and the runner is then asked to fend off a ball travelling at almost the same speed. Isn’t that dangerous?
‘What happened to Lizzie Watkins is recent and we ought to be vigilant. If a deflection can be fatal, a pre- meditated flick can be doubly so. The penalty corner has to go,” he said. He wants grille helmets to be a part of the game and the shootout to be replaced by a 25-second four versus two shoot-out. The International hockey federation (FIH) feels grille helmets can cause problems if players come into contact with each other even as goalkeepers continue to wear them.
People do not want to see any athlete die on the field. It is high time the FIH take cognizance and introduce safety measures for the players.
