Motherwell Manager Kettlewell Calls for Serious Approach to Head Injuries in Scottish Football

Stuart Kettlewell has urged Scottish football to address head injuries with seriousness, following his inability to obtain clear explanations regarding why the match between Motherwell and Dundee continued despite Kofi Balmer sustaining a double head blow. The manager of Motherwell believes that defender Balmer was subjected to a foul while contesting a corner, subsequently being pulled to the ground and struck by a knee to the face and a stud to the head. While Balmer remained on the ground in the opposing penalty area, visibly bleeding from his mouth, referee John Beaton permitted play to continue, which enabled Dundee to advance and score. Kettlewell stated that the club had not received any definitive answers following discussions between chief executive Brian Caldwell and Willie Collum, the Scottish FA’s head of referees, in the aftermath of the 4-1 loss. Kettlewell remarked, “Why I say that is because we’ve had a mixed message, on whether there was a head knock, or whether they’d seen a head knock, or whether the head knock was there but they didn’t think it was too significant, or they just didn’t completely see the player lying on the ground.” He added, “So I feel we’ve had a few different versions of that until we get to the end point, which is ultimately, if we’d seen it, we would have stopped the game.” He recounted his precise words at the time: “‘He’s on the ground’, was my exact words, ‘he’s holding his head, and he’s motionless.’ Those were my words. I understand that the referee might be following the ball but that’s why it’s a team of officials.” Kettlewell asserted, “As match officials, when you see someone lying on the ground, falling to the ground, holding their head, not moving, you do not get to decide how bad that is. I thought universally that was just something that stopped.” He concluded by emphasizing, “We’re going to have to start taking these head injuries seriously. Hhow bad does it need to get before somebody actually starts to take it really, really seriously and starts to implement real strategy to try and protect the player, get medical attention on the pitch as quick as you possibly can when there’s a blow to the head or two blows to the head?”