Ryan Mason

[Sean of the Shed]

Forced to retire aged 26 after fracturing skull over a year ago.
The second picture in the article shows the extent of the surgery required on his skull. Not for the squeamish.

[blameless]

God almighty, poor lad.

In that second picture, the back of his head looks like my brother's after he was knocked down by a speeding car (fortunately my bro survived).

[Glass Half Empty]

I do wonder whether we will reach the point where the games' rule makers look seriously at the option of making the wearing of a head guard compulsory. Three threads are driving it - the occasional awful injury like this one, the seemingly far more frequent head/eye socket/cheek injuries resulting from headed challenges and the ongoing debate about any link between alzheimer's and heading the ball. It will take a clever bit of design to deliver meaningful protection whilst allowing the the game to continue in its present form but I don't think it would be impossible to come up with a design that works. On a related issue I don't see why we haven't already got a requirement for foam elbow guards, which could be worn without any impact on the playing of the game at all.