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20 • Touchline • Issue 17
AT
RISK
Tributes have been paid to a promising young footballer who
collapsed and died during a match in Edinburgh just before
Christmas.
Jamie Skinner, 13, was playing for Tynecastle FC’s Under-14
team at the Saughton astro pitch when he fell to the ground.
Attempts by ambulance staff and others to revive him failed.
A spokesman for Tynecastle FC paid tribute to the player “who
undoubtedly would have had a bright future in the game”.
He said: “A tragic event happened at Saughton Astro on
Sunday December 22, a young boy playing for the Under 14s,
Jamie Skinner, playing the game he loved, lost his life on the
pitch.
“In an innocuous event during the game Jamie collapsed and
despite the valiant attempts of everyone at the game, and the
ambulance service, attempts to revive him were sadly in vain.
Although Jamie was new to our Tynecastle family, he had up
until recently been playing for Hearts, he was a prospect that
undoubtedly would have had a bright future in the game.
“No words can fully express our grief and dismay at seeing
this happen, we can only pass on all our thoughts and prayers
to friends and family and hope they will get some strength
from the out pouring of love and support from everyone.
Jamie moved to the club recently after playing for Hearts
Under-14s.
‘At Risk’ is a regular feature which highlights recent
news stories about some of the accidents and injuries
that occur in the sport and leisure world. Risk is present
in our everyday lives even when we are playing sport
and having fun.
Here we report some of the more tragic and bizarre
events that lead to loss, injury and sometimes even
death in our industry.
YOUNG FOOTBALLER DIES
DURING MATCH
The family of a man whose drowning at a US Tough Mudder
event was ruled an accident believe the company did a “terrible
job” of providing safety, a report has alleged.
Half-hour into the race on April 20 last year, Avishek “Avi”
Sengupta and his team reached a water obstacle called Walk
the Plank, which involved diving off a four-and-a-half metre
wall into a muddy pool of water.
Mr Sengupta did not immediately resurface after his dive,
although no one noticed at the time, Outside magazine reports.
He sunk to the bottom and passed out, for reasons which remain
unknown, and was next seen on the surface unconscious eight-
and-a-half minutes later.
An expert witness hired by the family’s lawyers, rescue-swimmer
instructor Mario Vittone, told Outside that Tough Mudder could
have done much more to mitigate the risks and their “amazing”
safety record may have blinded them to its flaws.
The organisation declined to address this criticism by Vittone
but said it incurred more than $4 million in external event
safety costs in 2013 and hundreds of thousands on staff.
It told the magazine in a statement: “We take our responsibility
to provide a safe event to our participants very seriously . . .
Tough Mudder is devastated by this tragic incident.”
“We did everything we could,” chief operating officer Don
Baxter told the magazine about Avi’s death, adding that “it’s
impossible to remove risk entirely from these events” and that
the organisation has a duty of care for everyone who comes
through.
Months earlier, CEO Will Dean said: “Statistically, it’s amazing.
You take that number of people, and if they were sitting at
home that day, statistically, we should have had a few heart
attacks. I have to tell the team, it’s coming. We have to accept
that it’s going to happen at some point and work to ensure it
never does.”
REPORT ALLEGES COMPANY DID A
‘TERRIBLE JOB’ ON SAFETY