Dirty Tackle

Non league goalkeeper gets sent off, helps save life of fan in the stands

August 28, 2013 at 12:16 p.m.

Stocksbridge Park Steels goalkeeper Ben Scott was shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle during Saturday's Northern Premier League match at King's Lynn Town.

The 29-year-old shot stopper started his walk of shame towards an early shower when he was alerted to the fact that a fan in his 70s had suffered a cardiac arrest in the stands. As a staff nurse who only plays in the seventh-tier of English football part-time, Scott quickly went from being a villain who inflicts dangerous injuries to a hero who helps save lives. The BBC reports:

"I started walking off the field, getting a nice bit of abuse as you do, when I noticed a young girl running past me," said Mr Scott, who works at Doncaster Royal Infirmary alongside playing for the South Yorkshire club.

"She said, 'a gentleman's died', so I followed her into the crowd and came across the gentleman on the floor.

"His heart was in an irregular rhythm."

Mr Scott said he and the St John Ambulance crew were able to give him a shock which put his heart into a normal rhythm.

"It was a fantastic bit of teamwork that gave that gentleman a fighting chance," he said.

Thanks in part to Scott's decisive action, the man was transported to a nearby Norfolk hospital and is now recovering at home.

Stocksbridge, meanwhile, sound as if they could have used the first choice keeper between the sticks for the full 90, as the match finished a 3-3 draw.