Sunday, May 9, 2010

Dark cloud

Wilson Mene in the colours of Phuchung Neak last season
I wasn't at yesterday's Metfone C-League games as I was in Kampot for a wedding. And whilst I was celebrating in one part of the country, a dark cloud descended over the Olympic Stadium during the Preah Khan versus Prek Pra match. I don't have any clear information yet but the bottom line is a player from Prek Pra, Wilson Mene, died on the pitch. I'll bring you more details as I get them. The last fatalities in Cambodian football were in July 2008 when three players died when struck by lightning.
Update: The details I've garnered are from colleagues who witnessed the collapse of Wilson Mene during yesterday's game at Olympic Stadium. It seems he collapsed with no one near him and attempts to revive him by medical personnel on the pitch and then in the ambulance, which was on the scene very quickly, were unsuccessful. The cause of his death is purely conjecture at this point, though heart attack is the most likely. I believe that his 19th birthday was due later this month. The striker joined Prek Pra Keila this season after spending the latter part of last year's campaign with Phuchung Neak and was previously with Preah Khan Reach.

4 comments:

Erick Bui said...

That's really sad news. Lighting often strikes during matches in Mekong Delta. A few players in Vietnam were also injured for recent years.

Rick said...

Don't know if it was lightning, as ther was none. Bayon got a call this morning concerning the death of a Nigerian player in olympic. If he played for us.

GADAFFI said...

Andy, your timeline seems not actualy right going by the statement by most of the eye witnesses. PP Post reported that the attempt to revive Mene took between 15-20mins. Certainly if the emergency evacuation made by the medical team was prompt as stated by the hospital sources, his live may have been saved. There is an hospital just 5 minutes walk away from the stadium, they could have taken advantage of that.
Anyway, the bottom line is all concerned (The federation, the clubs and the players themselves) should learn from this incident.

Andy Brouwer said...

Ken,
The timeline is not mine, it was recorded on the camera of photographer Nick Sells and I would bet that its 100% correct, against the recollections of eyewitnesses, who were NOT timing the incident, as the camera was. So I BELIEVE the camera, not the eyewitnesses, who are prone to increase timings in such an incident. The PP Post article on Wilson's death was written by people who were NOT at the game.
The hospital sources as you point out cannot be classed as reliable. Only an autopsy can be relied upon, and I don't believe one was carried out in this case. As for the hospital facilities able to cope with such an incident, then that was up to the doctor and ambulance personnel at the scene. The doctor was in the van with Wilson.
I agree, everyone can learn from this incident and we must hope something like this never takes place again. However it would've been very helpful for a full autopsy to be carried out to ascertain the health or otherwise of Wilson. That would have shone more light on whether this was an accident waiting to happen and what can be done in such circumstances in the future.
Andy