Intro - 14th Jan. 2013

My Knee Injury - An Introduction

October 12th 2010

For years I had played football 5 times a week, some times more.  It's always been a massive part of my life, I've enjoyed nothing more than playing it since I first started kicking a ball when I was a tiny person in this world, even watching Liverpool win trophies and singing loud on the Kop doesn't have the same effect as playing football myself does.

Tuesday October 12th 2010. It was a normal day, I had University from 9am and everything was going fine and well, it was getting towards winter so it was quite chilly but wet and raining as usual in the North West but little did I know what training that night would bring and I had no idea how it was about to impact my life for the next few years and maybe forever....

7pm training started, the same training I've been attending each Tuesday since I was 14.  Always played against older age groups since I was way younger and I enjoyed this training, hence my punctuality down the years.  There were some lads who have been coming down since I can remember and some of the newer ones, but they're a great bunch and the laughs are there for all to see, even if some of us (usually me) take it a bit seriously sometimes, after all, it is my passion!

The AstroTurf was soaked as the rain hadn't stopped all day but you never really think twice about a bit of rain as there's always a chance you'll slip on any wet surface is you're running around chasing a ball especially with moulded stud boots on too, but this was to be much more than just a slip in the rain....

Wet AstroTurf - Best avoided in studded footwear

Everything was going well, my fitness levels were good, I felt good physically, probably better than I ever had due to consistent game time and spending quite a bit of time in the gym and on the night I was playing good football, controlling things in the middle as I had learnt to do over the years at this specific training...

I remember chasing a ball down the left wing, at about 80% of my full pace, as one of the lads approached to tackle me, I sharply turned inside, knocking the ball past him with the outside of my right foot, but as I put down my right foot to swivel, my leg buckled and a noise, that I can only describe as the equivalent of an elastic band snapping in half, echoed through me and I collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Basically a carbon copy of my injury (Quite graphic)

Now, to all the people that know me as a footballer, I never stay down, old fashioned you might call it with the way players react and play act these days, but this time, I stayed down.  I probably let out a loud screech or two but my hearing and vision was becoming distorted as my body began to deal with the pain and damage and I felt more faint and breathless with each second that passed...Even though I was clearly injured, it still prompted one of the lads to shout "I bet you'll get up if I piss on ya!" in response to me saying "there's no way I'm getting up here, something's gone...."

I was helped off the pitch by a couple of the lads and stood there against a fence trying to catch my breath while watching the others do something I wouldn't be doing for the next 20 months.....I insisted I was fine, even tried to get back on but my leg literally wouldn't allow any weight or pressure to be put on it, leaving me with no choice but to sit out for the rest of the session.

I was helped back to the car and dropped off at home, albeit with only one boot on as I couldn't even get it back on due to the pain that had built up in my leg.  I showered, put some ice on it and slept as I had University again the following morning, obviously not aware of what had actually happened...