#4

Football is a rough sport, and despite the helmets, pads, braces, and supports, injuries are a common part of the game. The combination of the size

of the players, speed of play, and physical nature of the game makes football injuries quite common.A sprain is an injury to a ligament. A ligament is a thick, tough, fibrous tissue that connects bones together. Commonly injured ligaments are in the ankle, knee, and wrist. The ligaments can be injured by being stretched too far from their normal position. The purpose of having ligaments is to hold your skeleton together in a normal alignment -- ligaments prevent abnormal movements. However, when too much force is applied to a ligament, such as in a fall, the ligaments can be stretched or torn; this injury is called a sprain.

A strain is an injury to a muscle or tendon. Muscles move your skeleton in an amazing variety of ways. When a muscle contracts it pulls on a tendon, which is in turn connected to your bone. Muscles are made to stretch, but if stretched too far, or if stretched while contracting, an injury called a strain my result. A strain can either be a stretching or tear of the muscle or tendon.

injuries are

part of the

game

As said earlier, a sprain is caused by a ligament being stretched too far. A common sprain is an injury we often call a ‘twisted ankle.’ This injury often occurs in activities such as running, hiking, and basketball. People will fall or step on an uneven surface (in basketball this is often another player’s foot) and roll their foot to the inside. This stretches the ligaments on the outside of the ankle,

called the talofibular and calcaenofibular ligaments.Sprains are commonly graded according to the extent of the injury. Grade I and Grade II ankle sprains can usually be treated conservatively with treatments such as icing and physical therapy. Grade III ankle sprains can place individuals at higher risk for permanent ankle instability, and an operation may be a necessary part of treatment.

every player gets them you just have to deal with it

severe injuriesThere are two menisci in your knee; each rests between the thigh bone (femur) and shin bone (tibia). The menisci are made of tough cartilage and conform to the surfaces of the bones upon which they rest. One meniscus is on the inside of your knee; this is the medial meniscus. The other meniscus rests on the outside of your knee, the lateral meniscus.

These meniscus functions to distribute your body weight across the knee joint. Without the meniscus present, the weight of your body would be unevenly applied to the bones in your legs (the femur and tibia). This uneven weight distribution would cause excessive forces in specific areas of bone leading to early arthritis of knee joint.

R.I.P

Mar

c Vi

vien

Foe

Marc Vivien Foe

M arc-Vivien Foé (1 May 1975 – 26 June 2003) was a

Cameroonian international footballer, who played in midfield for both club and country. With success in the French League, and stints in the English Premier League, his sudden death, while in the middle of an international competitive fixture, came as a shock to the worldwide footballing community. He was posthumously decorated with the Commander of the National Order of Valour. In June 2003, Foé died whilst on the pitch. He was part of the Cameroon squad for the FIFA Confederations Cup, a tournament played between continental

champions. He played in wins against Brazil and Turkey, and was rested for the match against the United States, with Cameroon having already qualified. On 26 June 2003, Cameroon faced Colombia in the semi-final, held at the Stade de Gerland in Lyon, France. In the 72nd minute of the match Foé collapsed in the centre circle, with no other players near him. After attempts to resuscitate him on the pitch, he was stretchered off the field, where he received mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and oxygen. Medics spent 45 minutes attempting to restart his heart, and although he was still alive upon arrival at the

stadium’s medical centre he died shortly afterwards, in spite of the efforts to save his life. A first autopsy did not determine an exact cause of death, but a second autopsy concluded that Foé’s death was heart-related as it discovered evidence of hypertrophic cardiomopathy, a hereditary condition known to increase the risk of sudden death during physical exercise.

Eric Cantona

Ma n c h e s t e r United’s Eric Cantona has

been fined £20,000 and banned from playing football over his kung fu-style attack on a fan.The club has relegated the French star striker to the bench for nine months for lashing out at a fan in the front row during a game against Crystal Palace two days ago.Cantona has also been stripped of his captaincy of the French national team and he has lost his place in the side.Cantona claims the fan, Matthew Simmons, shouted racial insults and threw a missile at him as he walked off the pitch

after being given a red card for kicking another player during a tackle.The Frenchman leapt at the fan, aiming both feet at his chest. He then threw several punches, before police, stewards and other members of the crowd managed to pull him off. Fellow United player, Paul Ince, is also reported to have thrown some punches.Cantona’s fiery temper has got him in trouble before. In 1987 he punched his own team’s goalkeeper at Auxerre, leaving him with a black eye.

i just lost it

roy keaneand alf-inge haaland

Håland is often remembered for his feud with Roy Keane. In September 1997, when Manchester United were losing 1-0 to Håland’s Leeds at Elland Road, Keane injured his anterior cruciate ligament. As Keane lay prone on the ground, Håland criticised Keane for an attempted foul and suggested that he was feigning injury to avoid punishment. Keane was booked as he was stretchered off the field. He was out of action for nearly a year afterwards, missing the remainder of the 1997-98 season.Three and a half years later, in April 2001, Keane’ fouled Håland, high up on his right knee. Initially, Keane was simply

fined £5,000 and received a three-match ban. However, in his biography he admitted that he wanted to “hurt” Håland as revenge for the criticism he received years previously. After this revelation, Keane found himself subject to an FA inquiry and received an additional five game ban, and £150,000 fine. Keane never apologized or showed any remorse for the foul on Håland. Keane’s account of

the incident was as follows:“I’d waited long enough. I fucking hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you cunt. And don’t ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries.” The tackle itself did not cause any injury to Håland, nor forced him to retire as is widely reported. In fact Håland finished the match and played the next game. Haaland finally retired in July 2003

after failing to recover full fitness from an long-standing injury to his left knee (which can be seen with strapping on at the time of the Keane challenge). However Håland later implied the foul from Keane to be the root cause of his retirement as he never played a full match again. Haaland professes no lasting bitterness towards Keane, hoping only that Keane is different now so that he can provide a better example to young people and the players he manages.

“I’d waited long enough. I fucking hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you c**t.”

G.B.