Football payer collapses while playing, dies

A 25-year-old Nigerian national, playing his first match for Bengal Mumbai Football Club in Bombay's Harwood Football League at the Cooperage ground, on Saturday, collapsed on the ground and was declared dead shortly after being admitted to the Bombay Hospital.

In the 42nd minute of the match against Income Tax, stopper back Charles Ocheaga Esheku fell flat on his face in an off-the-ball incident. When referee Victor D'Souza halted play a few minutes later for an infringement, his teammates tried to revive him, but as they attempted to make him stand, he collapsed again. He was carried away on a stretcher and rushed to the Bombay Hospital, where was declared dead soon after admission.

Chief medical officer on duty at Bombay Hospital Dr Rehan Kazi said the player died due to cardiac arrest.

"His pupils had dilated and he was already brain dead when he was brought here," said Dr Kazi, adding, "we tried very hard to revive him but he did not respond."

Prior to joining BMFC, Charles played for Delhi's Indian National Football Club for two year's before representing Steel Authority of India, Calcutta, last season.

BMFC coach Jamshed Nassiri was lost for words about the incident. "He (Charles) was very fit and regularly played in all the team's practice matches," he said.

Charles's close friend Adeshina Sadiq, who is captaining BMFC, was inconsolable after learning about the death. "We grew up together; he was my close friend. How could this happen?, he asked.

BMFC striker Jude Odegah too was shocked. "He was my good friend. It is said that such a thing should have happened and that too on the football field," he said.

In recent times, this is the second instance in Indian football of a player collapsing on the football field and dying. In the 1993-94 Santosh Trophy tournament at Kannur, Indian Railways' Sanjib Datta died after being hit in the solar plexus while going for the ball.