Player dies celebrating goal

MrOneLung

on BBC

Indian footballer Peter Biaksangzuala has died from the injuries he suffered as he landed awkwardly while celebrating a goal.

The 23-year-old damaged his spinal cord doing a somersault after scoring an equaliser for Bethlehem Vengthlang FC against Chanmari West FC.

Biaksangzuala was taken to hospital and had surgery, but passed away.

The match in which he sustained his injuries was a state level game in the Mizoram Premier League.

A statement on the Mizoram Premier League's official Facebook page read: "It has been a sad day for Mizoram football and the demise of the footballer shook his team-mates, footballers and fans alike all over Mizoram.

"Peter was a defensive midfielder who had always been aggressive and hard working, a true team player.

"Peter's club Bethlehem Vengthlang FC will retire his jersey no. 21."

Bethlehem Vengthlang FC is a club based in the north-east of India.

RugbyAddick

That's incredibly unfortunate.

Talal

How sad. RIP

Lincsaddick

RIP .. Let's hope he's not the first of a few .. some modern goal celebrations look more dangerous than the game itself .. and all that knee surfing .. ouch !!!

Brendan_O_Connell

RIP poor fellow.

Reminds me of another story where a lad playing Sunday league football in the north east scored and did a Klinnsman-esque dive to celebrate (as the ground was wet and muddy) ended up getting caught in the mud and breaking his neck. Poor chap is now paralysed from the neck down.

Super_horns

Saw this on Youtube - so tragic.

cabbles

Super_horns said:

Saw this on Youtube - so tragic.

RIP to the chap

Bloody hell - must've been horrible to watch as well. I really can't stand seeing anything like that personally. I remember Dave Buust's injury for Cov in the 90s, Owen doing his knee in euro 2006 (I think)

Bedsaddick

See the video ( it's not graphic) . He does a first somersault and on the second , when he lands , he just crumples to the floor. Very strange and tragic .

Stig

I was always surprised that Sasa could walk again after the Wembley celebrations.

RIP Peter.

Jayajosh

Lincsaddick said:

RIP .. Let's hope he's not the first of a few .. some modern goal celebrations look more dangerous than the game itself .. and all that knee surfing .. ouch !!!

Agreed, just a matter of time before a player buckles his knee and ends a career. So sad that a player should lose his life celebrating a goal. Can't say that somersaults impress anyway.

ross1

Will someone please sort out Bikey and tell him, next time he scores forget the somersaults

floydroadfaithfull

We've got no chance of any of ours getting injured celebrating a goal!

Exiled_Addick

ross1 said:

Will someone please sort out Bikey and tell him, next time he scores forget the somersaults

Andre Bikey once fell awkwardly after a somersault, this is what the ground looked like afterwards:



Bikey was unhurt.

Seriously though, this kind of shit would never happen if goals were still celebrated with a firm handshake and brisk walk back to the halfway line. Poor lad.

North Lower Neil

Very sad, poor bloke.

Didn't Babayaro do his ankle landing.badly celebrating once? Might have been someone else but I'm sure it happened.

Goes to show Shearer had it right.

Carter

I wonder where the world is going when the video of this poor man dying is being casually shared all over Facebook.


Absolutely awful, and reminds me clear as crystal of my good mate Dave who was killed doing something similar five years ago playing five a side.

queensland_addick

Absolutely tragic. Seeing him laying on that stretcher afterwards knowing that he was paralysed, but far worse was still to come for the poor lad. Maybe time for the FIFA to start looking into this. There is so much adrenaline surging around the body and and so much emotion after a goal is scored, that some players are obviously doing things that their bodies have not trained or practiced for. A simple fist clenched, killer type celebration is more than enough IMO.
RIP

EastStand

queensland_addick said:

Absolutely tragic. Seeing him laying on that stretcher afterwards knowing that he was paralysed, but far worse was still to come for the poor lad. Maybe time for the FIFA to start looking into this. There is so much adrenaline surging around the body and and so much emotion after a goal is scored, that some players are obviously doing things that their bodies have not trained or practiced for. A simple fist clenched, killer type celebration is more than enough IMO.
RIP

Maybe something similar to NFL where players get flagged for over the top celebrations. I believe this was originally put in place to stop players from winding the fans up, but maybe a yellow for dangerous celebrations could work. Like the yellows for jumping into the stands.

Stig

Talk of halting all celebrations on the back of this seems more than a little ott to me. As tragic as this is, it is one person of all the millions who play football. I don't want to make light of this, but you've got more chance of dying because a coconut has fallen on your head. If we stopped everything that could kill you if it went terribly wrong, we'd never do anything.

LuckyReds

RIP Peter; forever Vengthlang's #21.

Carter said:

I wonder where the world is going when the video of this poor man dying is being casually shared all over Facebook.


Absolutely awful, and reminds me clear as crystal of my good mate Dave who was killed doing something similar five years ago playing five a side.

Agree completely, I was sent the link to it - when I began watching and realised what it is I skipped to the comments and ended up closing the tab. My disgust was more with the sheer number of racist comments underneath it and things like "Was essentially a tap in, why celebrate?". Sadly, the internet (or it's users) and it's abundance of things that need not be shared, and the reactions to such material, never cease to surprise.

Gutted to hear about your mate too, heartbreaking to think something like that can happen.

queensland_addick

Stig said:

Talk of halting all celebrations on the back of this seems more than a little ott to me. As tragic as this is, it is one person of all the millions who play football. I don't want to make light of this, but you've got more chance of dying because a coconut has fallen on your head. If we stopped everything that could kill you if it went terribly wrong, we'd never do anything.

Can see where you're coming from, but we have heard of three tragic examples just in this thread alone. Celebrations have now gone OTT, with complex gymnastic moves now being expected from players like Beagrie, Lua Lua and numerous others over the years. Others try to emulate, which could end in tragic circumstances. I think this is one instance where cracking down would be sensible. Fan's and players would still be more than happy with far less elaborate celebrations. The celebrations of players such as Law, Best and Killer for us, stick in the mind just as much.

All_Thaid_Up

I remember a basketball player I think in Greece Was paralyzed after head butting the stantion after a disputed call

Fiiiiiish

North Lower Neil said:

Very sad, poor bloke.

Didn't Babayaro do his ankle landing.badly celebrating once? Might have been someone else but I'm sure it happened.

Goes to show Shearer had it right.

Think you might be referring to Lua Lua for Pompey against Saints.

Think it was the first half aswell....hardly worth it.

Terrible shame to happen, but no need to seriously 'police' celebrations. Players already get booked for jumping into the crowd or taking their shirts off, which imo is ridiculous.

uie2

RIP Peter