The human body is a very fragile thing and sometime footballers don’t realise just how fragile until something tragic happens.

Wednesday 16th October will go down as on of the days when the body struck back as just before half-time of Chatham Town’s Ryman League Division One North match against Romford at Thurrock’s Ship Lane ground, 22-year old defender Corey Holder suddenly collapsed to the ground in agony having stretched to attempt a clearing header.

After being taken to hospitals and further tests carried out, it was found that Corey had ruptured his spleen and it was removed after an emergency operation.

Speaking exclusively to Kent Sport News after his side’s 2-0 FA Trophy win over AFC Hayes, Chatham manager Kevin Watson gave an update on Corey progress.

Watson said “I went to see him yesterday, obviously he was still recovering from the operation on Thursday, and I’ve seen him this morning as well. It has really been a team and club ethic, supporting Corey.”

“Austin (Gacheru) stayed with him overnight, sleeping on a chair in his room, before coming here today, and several other players have sent messages and gone to see him as well.  It really shows the unity of the club. Football is a really big part of his life at the moment. He’s young enough that he could still go on and progress in his career.”

But yet the injury itself at first looked so innocuous and hardly anyone in the ground had any idea just how serious Corey’s position was.

Fortunately one man did and that was Chats physio Terry Groom. After four minutes of treatment on the pitch from Terry, Corey was assisted into the changing rooms just before the whistle was blown for the interval.

At the time, no-one could guess how serious this incident was to become, although the arrival of, and subsequent departure of a smiling, but clearly sedated Corey in an ambulance after the end of the game, it was clear this wasn’t just an ordinary injury.

Terry had insisted that the call for the ambulance service support be made, and he later indicated on the night that the first thought may have been a rib injury, but Corey was also complaining of pain around his stomach, so further help was sought.

Chatham players Kalvin Morath-Gibbs and Gacheru accompanied their stricken team-mate to hospital on Wednesday night, where a few hours later, he underwent an emergency operation to remove his spleen.

But as Terry is still questioning today, what could have happened had such support not been available, and the player been allowed to go home?

Talking of his young defender, the manager continued “He’s not one of the players who would look for a way out. He’d try to play on if he possibly could, so we knew straight away that it was something relatively serious, but no-one could anticipate that it was something as serious as it was. We thought it was damage to his ribs, so it shows the necessity of having the qualified support at this level, because things can change so quickly.”

“People like Terry have a lot on their plate, and remember they are accountable, so to have that support, from their physio and everybody was essential. I’m sure that Corey would thank everyone if he could right now, and we will all be there for his recovery.”

“If they’re not dealt with quickly, things like this can get quickly out of control. But mark my words; he will come back a lot stronger for this. Naturally it took a little time to come to terms with this, with the severity of it, losing his spleen, as well as the operation.”

“He is a positive lad anyway, but in the long run, hopefully he can look back at this and it will make him become more resilient as a player and a person. We need to be positive as well. It can be very difficult to accept an illness or injury that will be with him for the rest of his life.”

It’s heartening to report that as in other cases of bad injuries (or sadly worse), the Kent football community rallys round to help the families of the players concerned, and there has been an immediate response from Chatham for their young defender, who is supplementing his time as a student with part-time work.

Kevin explained, “We’ll support Corey in whatever way we can. There’s a lot of people around this club; our club president has been very generous, the players have contributed and a collection was going round today, but the financial aspect is only one small part of it. There are a lot of things we can do to help Corey, and he doesn’t expect it.”

But the most optimistic news was that Corey is hoping to be at Chatham’s biggest game for years; the FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round match on Saturday, that he himself should have been playing in.

The manager added “He will be here next week and that will be one of the most  memorable parts of the game; his mere presence. I’ve said before that if a manager could have 11 Corey Holder’s, he couldn’t go far wrong. You might not score many goals, but you certainly wouldn’t concede many!  He’s a great lad with a great attitude.”

Kevin is hopeful that the positive sides of this story, and the fact that qualified physiotherapists are becoming more common at this level of non-league football, will be publicised following these events, and we at KSN are only too glad to help.

There are more avenues available to non-league footballers since the foundation of the Non-League Footballer’s Association four years ago.

The Chats boss is certainly aware of the work being carried out by former Bromley defender Francis Duku, and ex-Erith & Belvedere manager, Mickey Collins, in trying to ensure the right insurance is in place to support footballers at this level, and he said “There is growing support for something like this.”

“To a certain extent, players are putting themselves on the line week-in, week-out, and often the only financial reward is just expenses. But we chose to do it because we love it, so if extra support can come from this incident, great.”

“Corey is looking at months for recovery, rather than weeks, but we won’t rush him back. He’s had very few injuries to date, and I know personally from injuries that you can come back stronger. The rehab will be important, and we can get him access to the right places. He can come to our training venue, at the school where I work, where he’ll have access to the gym to make sure he’s right.”

KSN COMMENT FROM FOOTBALL EDITOR MIKE GREEN:

This is a sad story but one we all hope have a happy ending and we’re all sure that it will.  Corey has a wonderful football club behind him and a club that is only a small part of a larger footballing community – a community that sadly doesn’t get enough praise for the good things it does and the people who do them. 

Terry Groom deserves all the credit in world for insisting the Romford authorities phone the emergency services as quickly as they did, but the question has to be asked what would have happened to Corey, if Terry hadn’t of acted so quickly? 

And what might god forbid happen next time if your club’s “Terry Groom” isn’t on hand to react so promptly? 

As Kevin Watson said “People like Terry have a lot on their plate, and remember they are accountable, so to have that support, from their physio and everybody was essential!” 

Incidents like this really do make you appreciate just the job that club physios do to help and protect every single player that plays the game that we all love.

And so to all the “Terry Groom’s” in Kent football, we send our unmitigated thanks and salute you one and all…

Pictures supplied by Chatham Town FC.