Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell has urged referees to take more action on dangerous aerial challenges after losing Paul McGinn to a fractured cheekbone.
McGinn faces six weeks out after undergoing surgery to repair the facial damage caused in last weekend’s defeat by Kilmarnock, while Brodie Spencer and Calum Butcher also suffered broken noses.
Kettlewell feels there needs to be a shift in attitude towards aerial challenges from players and match officials and has spoken to the Scottish Football Association’s head of referees, Crawford Allan, on the subject.
Kettlewell, whose side host Hearts on Saturday, said: “We speak about being responsible for your follow-through with ground challenges and I am seeing guys get red-carded for it.
“We have had two instances, one in the Aberdeen game with Brodie Spencer, and one with Paul McGinn, where our guy clearly wins the ball (in the air) and there’s a follow-through from the opponent.
“There is no malice in it, the player is not trying to hurt our player, but that must be a greater danger when we are worrying about concussion and long-lasting injuries.
“We are going to have to look into this situation as a game because we are really focusing on what happens on the ground but when you get into the realms of guys going full force, mistiming a header, and almost headbutting an opponent – it’s not deliberate but that’s essentially what is happening – then I believe we are running a greater risk of longer-term injury, concussions and, fingers-crossed it doesn’t come to that case, but much, much worse. We have to look at these aerial challenges.
“If you look at the one with Paul, I think it was Lewis Mayo, who is an honest player, he is genuinely going for the ball, but he misses the ball and headbutts Paul in the cheek.
“The officials told us at the time they gave us an advantage and we got a shot at goal, that’s completely inaccurate – the ball goes into the box, Kilmarnock clear the ball and we got a throw-in. There’s no foul.
“I find it amazing and I am going to urge everyone to take a look into that because in an age we are trying to make the game safer, we are seriously missing an aspect which could be potentially dangerous for players.
“Crawford was great, he took note of it, I don’t know if he had heard it explained exactly as I had done. I spoke to the match officials on Saturday where they really did take on board my concerns.
“But it’s important we action it. There is potentially worse coming if it’s something we don’t try to eradicate
“Every player is responsible for their actions. If you can’t win the ball, you might need to just hold your ground and see if you can defend the next phase.
“That’s two instances in the last three games where there have been significant blows to the head – one was a bounce ball and the other one was a throw-in.”
There was further bad news on the injury front this week when midfielder Lennon Miller was ruled out for 12 weeks with a small fracture to the kneecap.
Kettlewell said: “It’s a blow for everybody, we could see how well Lennon was performing. We were gutted for him but the person with the most maturity about it was the 17-year-old. That’s how he carries himself.
“At times you can gain other aspects when you find yourself injured, I have said that to a lot of young players. Whether you gain at the gym, the mental aspect of it, you can come back in a stronger place and I have no doubt Lennon will do that.”
