Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell has raised concerns about the potential for serious injuries in football, urging the Scottish Football Association head of referees Willie Collum to take action following a recent incident involving right-back Stephen O'Donnell.
O'Donnell is set to miss the upcoming Scottish Premiership match against St Mirren after sustaining a shoulder injury during the second half of Motherwell’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final victory over Dundee United.
The injury occurred when O'Donnell fell awkwardly after contesting a high ball, colliding with United midfielder Will Ferry, who was grounded at the time.
The Scotland full-back did receive an apology after the incident but Kettlewell would rather the 'rugby like' move was abolished completely.
“Stephen’s not trained this week, it’s one that needs to be assessed over the next few days," the Motherwell boss explained on Thursday.
"It’s definitely not as bad as we first feared, we were obviously looking at dislocations and all that stuff, which he has been cleared of. But he took a pretty significant blow from a height.
“If you look at the challenge, I don’t think there is any intention whatsoever from the player, but I have been so big on this over the last 18 months, what is it they call it in rugby, the tip tackle? If you are up there contesting the ball you can’t make a back for the opponent.
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"It’s something I think needs to be outlawed from the game.
“We have had a wee bit of dialogue with Willie and it’s not a rant, it’s just something I feel we are missing.
“Without being too dramatic, if Stephen falls another couple of inches in the other way and lands on his head, what’s his neck supported by other than his full body weight coming down on top of him?
“I don’t want to dampen the mood from the game, I thought it was really well officiated last Friday, but I just feel it’s something our eye isn’t particularly well trained for. It was his shoulder fortunately but I feel that could be a little bit worse unless we start to get a grip of it.
“When one player jumps and the other player starts to take away their body weight and your hips go above your head and your neck then we are starting to run the risk of pretty serious injury.”
