Emiliano Martinez's head injury at Newcastle United on Saturday has prompted renewed calls for 'temporary concussion substitutions' to be introduced in top level football. The Aston Villa stopper took a blow to the head after colliding with defender Tyrone Mings but was allowed to continue after a check by the club's medical staff.
Moments later Martinez was back on the ground complaining of his head injury and was eventually forced off and replaced by Robin Olsen. Since then, the PFA have called for temporary withdrawals to be sanctioned by the Premier League.
Dr Adam White, head of the PFA’s brain health department, told PA: “Put simply, the current laws of the game are jeopardising player health and safety.
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“Permanent substitutions do not allow medical teams to assess a player with a potentially serious brain injury in an appropriate environment. The rules as they are create an extremely challenging situation and offer no support to medical personnel.”
White's comments come days after Alan Shearer spoke out against the decision to allow Martinez to continue after his initial injury at St James' Park. The Newcastle hero has been a big champion of added protection for players in recent years and wants to see something change.
“If he goes off and he’s assessed, there’s no way that he’s allowed back on the field of play, like he is in this instance," Shearer said on Match of the Day. "It shouldn’t happen. They’re failing players by not allowing temporary substitutions to come on.
“He shouldn’t be allowed to carry on in that instance anyway because there is the wording, ‘If in doubt, sit them out’. There has to have been a doubt there when the doctor and the physio are assessing him but they should be able to take him off for ten minutes and assess him, look at him, and quite clearly he wasn’t fit to carry on.”
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