Martin Boyle lay on the grass and looked into the clear blue Qatari sky.
At that moment, it felt like the world was about to crash down on him. Forty minutes passed and he was still there. Motionless. Numb. A concoction of emotions swirled around his head. Anger, sadness, dejection. Maybe even bitterness. He was on the floor, exasperated.
But overriding all of that was just sheer devastation. Because he wasn’t going to live his dream and play at the 2022 World Cup. And every day since, the pain has still been there. Mentally, he’s somehow had to process the single biggest blow of his career. But he’s getting there. Boyle is as resilient as they come. You don’t go from Montrose to playing in the Premiership for Hibs and getting caps for Australia if you don’t have a bit of grit about you. Without that, who knows where his head would be at?
For anyone not in his close circle of family, friends and team-mates, it’s difficult to comprehend how he must have felt in Qatar. He’d sacrificed a lot to represent Australia, where his dad Graeme was born. He’d knocked back Scotland for a start. The thousands of air miles around the globe, time away from his wife and kids.
Everything was geared towards pulling on that yellow Socceroos shirt at the greatest show on earth. But Boyle’s story proves how cruel this game can be. When he injured his knee against St Mirren in October at Easter Road, he knew he was in trouble.
There was still time, though. Backed by Aussie coach Graham Arnold, he gave himself every chance of making it. Scans, strappings, injections, pills – you name it. Until that day he collapsed on the Qatari turf in utter despair. That’s when reality hit.
Speaking for the first time about his World Cup heartache in an exclusive Record Sport interview, the 29-year-old said: “I don’t think I can put it into words. In terms of my head space, it’s been all over the place. But mentally, I have to try and charge on. Hopefully things are brighter when I get back.
“Eventually, I told myself in Qatar that I wouldn’t make it. I just knew. I’d had 12 injections. We even tried PRP (platelet-rich plasma). Basically, we took blood out of my arm and put it back into my knee. There isn’t a blood supply at the meniscus so we thought that might work.
“I tried everything to get me there, cortisone jabs as well. The frustrating thing is, I could run. I was still running at high speed – but in a straight line. And I couldn’t pass a ball 10 yards without my knee popping. I’d have to stop and crunch it back into place. We tried everything until that final training session before the opening game against France.
“After doing nothing for a few days, I got it strapped up and asked for a local anaesthetic to numb it. I just wanted to see if I could get through. But it kept popping whenever I passed the ball. That’s when I lay down and had to admit defeat. I remember just lying on the ground for about 40 minutes. It was hard.”
But things were about to get a whole lot tougher for Boyle.
After conceding that his World Cup dream was in tatters, he just wanted the knee fixed so he could think about returning for Hibs after Qatar. Unfortunately, even that was taken away from him. He said: “When I accepted that it wasn’t going to happen, my only thought was to get the operation as soon as possible.
“I phoned Hibs gaffer Lee Johnson from hospital and we talked about being back for the Rangers game after the World Cup break. We thought it was a quick clean-up, a 20-minute operation. But the surgery didn’t go as I thought it would. It was a big surprise for me.
“The surgeon said he’d only really know the damage once he was inside my knee. The plan was just to do my meniscus. They even said they were going to keep me awake for it. But I said: ‘Nah, just put me to sleep’. I was lucky they did because it turned into a two-and-a-half hour procedure. When I woke up there were doctors and surgeons round my bed. I knew something was wrong.
“They basically said: ‘We’ve
reconstructed your whole knee’.
“Apparently, I’d been rupturing that bundle of cruciate for six or seven YEARS.
“If I’d only got my meniscus fixed at that point, I’d have come back and my cruciate ligament would have gone next.
“It was bonkers. I had to try and get my head around things. It was difficult for me.”
At that point, Boyle could have flown home.
But it tells you a lot about his character that, amidst his personal trauma, he felt bad that his dad and others might lose money on the flights to Doha they’d already booked.
Arnold invited him to stay as part of the squad and he feels grateful that he did. After Australia’s group game win over Tunisia, he dragged Boyle into the centre of their celebratory huddle on the pitch.
It was one of THE moments of the World Cup – and something he’ll never forget.
He said: “For my headspace, it was good to stay in the camp. But I was still in a lot of pain. I was medicated right up. Going to the games was a great experience but it was tough too. I should have been playing.
“It wasn’t meant to be like that. But Australia had my full support. They’ve done a lot for me over the years. It was a special moment going into the huddle. I probably shouldn’t even have been at the games because I was loaded up on medication.
“I was trying to hobble along to the huddle and ended up in the middle of it. It was overwhelming. It meant a lot that the manager did that. I wasn’t expecting it.
“For the next game, I was in there again with my crutches. What people didn’t see was after being in there, I was back in my medication pocket popping pills again.
“I was just trying to get through it. The lads did unbelievably well and I’m glad I was there with them.
“Was it the lowest I’ve ever felt in my career? Aye, I still get down about it now. It’s the pinnacle of any player’s career. I was selected for it but didn’t make it.
“So it was an emotional rollercoaster. Thinking I couldn’t get through it, then thinking I could. And then it finally sinks in that you won’t make it. But I’m resilient. I’ve had an injury like this before. I know what it’s all about. I was out for 11 months last time I had surgery, which was a long haul. But this time it was tougher because, ultimately, I’ve missed a major tournament.”
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