North Region junior football match abandoned after Islavale player is knocked out after colliding with pitchside wall at Hermes
A footballer is on the road to recovery after striking his head off a pitchside wall and sustaining a serious head gash.
Finlay Stables, who plays for Keith club Islavale, was knocked unconscious by the impact against a concrete wall during a cup quarter-final in Aberdeen on Saturday.
The match was abandoned after the Moray club refused to play on, such was the concern for the 29-year-old player.
Stables, who played Highland League football for Deveronvale, Lossiemouth and Rothes, was knocked out and began having fits before an ambulance arrived to take him to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
There he received scans and was fully checked out and given the all-clear to return home yesterday (Sunday).
His father Jim is a club coach and brother James is a Vale team-mate, and both attended to the stricken player and accompanied him to hospital.
“There was a massive gash on his head, and blood everywhere,” said team manager Robert Scott.
“A few of the players were struggling with what they saw, and a couple were very close to tears.
“Thankfully Finlay has been checked out and is recovering well. I spoke to him after he got home and he said he was more annoyed about not being able to play for a couple of weeks!”
Player boss Scott praised the actions of Hermes’ female physiotherapist, who he said was very experienced in dealing with the situation and acted on it immediately.
The incident happened shortly after half time during Saturday’s Grill League Cup tie at Hermes’ Lochside Park ground in Aberdeen.
Scott said a concrete wall runs up the side of the pitch, around a metre from the touchline and Stables’ momentum in challenging for the ball carried him into the wall with a sickening thud.
“To be honest when he went into the wall, it was more the noise and the thud it made,” he said.
“There were a few of the players’ mothers watching and some supporters. The next thing we knew, there’s this noise and everyone is looking down.
“When he went into the wall he was out straight away and just ceased solid in a position, and started fitting.
“He had a coup of fits at the pitchside and one on the way to hospital, I believe. There was a lot of worry there.
“But one he came to, it calmed everybody down a wee bit.
“The main thing is he’s on the road to recovery. You never go to a football game expecting anything like that to happen.”
The match referee initially wanted the match to continue and called league officials for instruction, both Islavale and Hermes wanted the match abandoned.
“His brother James was right next to him where it happened,” Scott added. “His dad Jim was there too, and for both of them especially it was very worrying.
“We refused to play on and Hermes were totally understanding and said they wanted to call it off as well. I said if the league and the ref weren’t happy, we would just give Hermes the tie.
“For us, player safety comes first and especially with it being one of our players, that was our priority.
“Our physio Demi Thain was there and I think it was the first time she had come across anything as serious as that, but the Hermes physio played a massive part in it. She was straight on the case and is very experienced in what she does.”
Scott said the player was drifting in and out of consciousness, and when he was conscious he was unaware what day of the week it was or what had happened. “But he still wanted to know what the score was.”
The Vale manager was thrilled to speak to the player on Sunday on the phone after he had returned home.
“He seemed to be back to normal with his speaking, and he was raging that he won’t be able to play for a couple of weeks. That is the type of him, he would play the next game if he could.
“We put a post on Facebook and there was a lot of support for him, and he will be a big miss for us over the next few weeks because he is a player that starts every game and normally plays 90 minutes every game.
“But as long as he is OK that’s all that mattered.”
Scott said he wanted to cancel team training on Monday and consulted Finlay’s dad Jim. “He said he wants to get the team regrouped again and that’s what we will do.
“I had quite a few people, other managers and people who heard about it, all passing me messages wishing him well and I have passed those on to Finlay.”
Islavale were huge underdogs going into a cup match against one of the top Aberdeen sides, who have been defeating all of their opponents in the top league so far this season.
But despite having a number of players missing, the Keith side matched their opponents for the 50 minutes of the game played and were only one goal down when it was abandoned.
Scott revealed how on returning home from hospital, Stables was talking about the match and his team’s chances of victory.
“Hermes have been blitzing everyone in the juniors and even beat Highland League Turriff in the cup, and we went into the game with six boys missing,” Scott said.
“But we were only one goal down, we hit the bar and we had chances and started the second half very well so it was a game to be won.
“That was another thing that Finlay was annoyed about. He said they were there for the taking - but I told him just to worry about himself!”
The North Region junior football league have yet to make a decision on Saturday’s abandoned match, but it is expected to be replayed in September.
