Chelsea's handling of the head
injury suffered by goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois on Sunday has come under fire by
a British brain injury association that questioned whether the Blues followed
all of the Premier League's regulations.
Courtois was knocked to the ground
in a collision with Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez but
remained in the match for an additional 14 minutes before being replaced.
Chelsea followed new Premier League rules by
immediately assessing Courtois, though the team's medical staff made the
decision to let Courtois play on. It wasn't until later, when bleeding from
Courtois' ear was discovered, that the Belgian was removed and taken to
hospital.
In addition to team doctors
assessing players on the pitch, the Premier League's guidelines also call for
an independent "tunnel doctor" to "support" the team
doctor's in assessing head injuries. However, Headway, a
British organisation
and charity, expressed concern that Chelsea
failed to follow all of the instructions.
"This incident calls into
question whether these rules are working effectively. For example, was the
third 'tunnel doctor' consulted on the decision to allow Courtois to continue?
If so, did he or she agree that there was no suspicion of concussion?"
Headway asked in a statement.
Courtois has said he's "feeling
better" after leaving hospital, and Chelsea has not said he was diagnosed
with a concussion.
Headway added that "the fact
that the bleeding only became apparent 15 minutes after the injury also
demonstrates the evolving nature of concussion and highlights why a
safety-first approach must be taken with all head injuries."
Chelsea's Thibaut Courtois fell to
the pitch after colliding with Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez on Sunday.
Critisicm of how the Premier League
handles head injuries has increased over the past year following several
incidents. In September 2013, Everton's Romelu Lukaku said he couldn't remember
scoring a goal after he was knocked unconscious against West Ham. Then in November,
Lukaku's knee collided with Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who was briefly
knocked unconscious but stayed in the match.
Head injuries in the sport gained
even more attention in this summer's World Cup final as Germany's Christoph
Kramer played for 15 minutes after suffering a head injury before having to be
helped off the pitch. He later said he could not remember playing in the match.
Taylor Twellman, an ESPN analyst and
a former United States international who retired in 2010 because of
complications from multiple concussions, also said the guidelines do not go far
enough to protect players.
"I think what's important to
realize is that after the [Hugo] Lloris incident last year, I think [Romelu]
Lukaku was another incident last year and obviously what happened at the World
Cup, there's a need for a world governing body like FIFA to address it and
everyone else will follow," Twellman said.
"The problem is this: the EPL
yesterday -- how is Courtois' incident any different than Lloris? It's not.
Both happened on the field, both were blatantly obvious yet this year, with
'new' concussion protocol, the same mistakes were made. Less than a minute of
assessment and Courtois was back on the field.
"And there's a neutral doctor
on the touchline. How is a neutral doctor on the touchline any different from a
doctor for the team? They have the same vantage point, they have no different
view as opposed to the rest of us watching the game with 6, 7 or 8 different
cameras. If that neutral doctor is watching via a camera, Courtois is
immediately off the field. So there's real inconsistencies with the protocols
in the EPL."
The Chelsea medical staff helps up
Thibaut Courtois after he collided with Arsenal Alexis Sanches, left.
Twellman started the ThinkTaylor Foundation to increase awareness that
head injuries have on footballers. He said he was "not shocked" that
the Chelsea doctors allowed the goalkeeper to play on.
"They came out to say they
addressed it and they were really going after it, when in reality they were
just trying to cover it up with some bogus 'protocol' that has no real base to
it at all," Twellman said.
Twellman said a star player would
have to be suffer a massive injury for more action to be taken.
"We shouldn't need Wayne Rooney
to be fatally injured in order for us to wake up," the former New England
Revolution star said. "We already know what the answers are, and [soccer]
really needs to be ahead of the game. It just goes to show you how far behind
everyone is when Chelsea comes out and says,
'Oh, he went to the hospital and
he had a CT scan and an MRI and an X-ray and he's fine,' when science tells us
that none of those tests shows a concussion.
"It's mind-boggling to me that
we're in 2014 and we're getting 1950s, 1960s answers with regard to traumatic
brain injuries. It makes no sense."
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