Death of Motherwell Captain.

[Bobby Sands]

Phil O'Donnell, the Motherwell captain, has died tonight after collapsing during his team's 5-3 victory over Dundee United.
Motherwell Captain O'Donnell, 35, Collapses & Dies
zoom - galleria

Motherwell chairman Bill Dickie confirmed the tragic news that O'Donnell, 35, who was taken off the Fir Park pitch on a stretcher in the closing stages of the thrilling SPL clash.

O'Donnell had been about to be substituted by Marc Fitzpatrick, but collapsed onto the turf as the change was being made.

He was treated for around five minutes on the pitch before being carried off on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance.

O'Donnell's nephew, David Clarkson, was also playing in the match, but was clearly distressed by the incident and was quickly taken off.

O'Donnell began his career with Motherwell and rejoined the club in 2004 after having also played for Celtic, whom he joined in 1994 for a £1.75million fee, and Sheffield Wednesday. He also played once for Scotland.

Dickie said: "Unfortunately I can confirm very, very sad news that Phil O'Donnell has lost his life.

"We don't know what it was but there will be a post-mortem.

"This is a tragic happening and that's all I can say."

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee said: "I don't want to say anything more than how devastated everyone at the club is for his wife and his young children.

"That's what we are all feeling tonight, nothing else matters.

"Obviously from the club's point of view we'll gather round to give his family as much support as they need."

Peter Lawwell, the Celtic chief executive, spoke for the Parkhead club, expressing their great sadness at the death of a former player.

"When the news came through, everyone at the club was obviously shocked," said Lawwell.

"Obviously our thoughts are with his family to whom we offer extreme condolences for a tragic loss of a young life.

"Everyone at Celtic Park will mourn him."

Gordon Smith, chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, said: "This is absolutely devastating news.

"Phil was not just a wonderful footballer, he was a great human being. My thoughts are with his family at this tragic time."

R.I.P.

 

[Bobby Sands]

btw hizzle i was trying to edit my post an delete that long image code but for some reason it takes ages to save.

 

[tHuG $TyLe]

Damn..thats some shocking news. How many players have died like this on the pitch in the past few months?

 

[Illuminattile]

Terrible news, R.I.P.

There have been a fair few this year, it's worrying.

 

[Bobby Sands]

There have been a lot of similar cases in the recent past. I dunno, could it be that athletes are pushing themselves too hard in training nowadays. I dunno really. It is very sad. His nephew was also playing for Motherwell and scored two goals in the match.

 

[Flipmo]

Its athletes pushing themselves. The heart is being pushed beyond what it can handle, and down you fall.

RIP. He was a fairly decent player as well

 

[hizzle?]

Yeah, Rip to him. I thought that he played more for Scotland to be honest.

I think that some kind of illegal substances are part in this honestly....

 

[Malkz]

rest in peace, same happened in a Seville game not to long ago? it's sad..

 

[Duke]

Yeah heard about this yesterday. Fucked up. I told my mother about this today and she recalled some tv documentary where players (athletes) that have had similar things happen to them were all on some kind of antibiotics cure. That's all she knew as well, maybe someone here can shed some more light on it?

RIP.

 

[DPG iz all I C]

Such a shame. Leaving behind a wife and 4 children.

 

[Devious]

well i don't follow European Football, but whenever an athlete dies like this it's so tragic. Flipmo's right, a lot of it is athletes just pushing themselves way too hard. RIP.

 

[Bobby Sands]

Yeah, Rip to him. I thought that he played more for Scotland to be honest.

I think that some kind of illegal substances are part in this honestly....

I highly doubt that this guy or any of the other footballers that died this way were on any type of illegal substances, They were all model professionals. There have been a few similar cases here in Ireland recently where kids as young as 10 or 11 just collapsed and died whilst playing sports or excercising.

I think that some people are born with weakness in their hearts or have a history of heart problems in their families. The fact that professional athletes push themselves a lot harder nowadays exposes these weaknesses more. You also have athletes over exerting themselves while they are ill or on antibiotics.They are under pressure to play. I have played under coaches before who expect you to play even if you are ill.

 

[Devious]

I highly doubt that this guy or any of the other footballers that died this way were on any type of illegal substances, They were all model professionals. There have been a few similar cases here in Ireland recently where kids as young as 10 or 11 just collapsed and died whilst playing sports or excercising.

I think that some people are born with weakness in their hearts or have a history of heart problems in their families. The fact that professional athletes push themselves a lot harder nowadays exposed these weaknesses more.

well i'm not going to make any assumptions about who takes what, especially in a sport that i don't follow, but i have to say that if you think football players are clean, you are more than likely mistaken. i don't think there is a sport where illegal substances aren't being used by at least some players.

edit: i realize you didn't say all of them were clean, but it seems you may have been implying that. the fact is that we won't know exactly what the cause of death was until all tests are done. but this is happening to a lot of athletes in a lot of sports. there's definitely something going on here.

 

[Bobby Sands]

I know all of them aren't clean but there is regular drug testing and a few players have been punished. The point i am making is that these players that i have died whilst playing football in the past few years were all model professionals so i dont believe that they were taking illegal substances. It would have shown up in post-mortems if they were wouldnt it?

 

[2Pax]

There was an article in the news a month or so ago about a young man who died from heart failiure during training, he was only 18 or 19. Now his Mother and Father are campaigning for football players to have regular heart checks in order to prevent further tragedies.

RIP