Martinez Issues Safety Warning

After the untimely death of another young player in recent times Swansea City Manager Roberto Martinez has issued a safety warning to his young stars.

Martinez was speaking in the wake of the death of 20 year old Hartlepool United midfeilder Michael Maidens on the weekend. The Hartlepool youngster had been travelling as a passenger in a Vaxhall Corsa towards the village of Lazenby along the A174 in North Yorkshire. The Corsa collided with a lamppost causing fatal injuries to Maidens.

As news filtered down from Yorkshire about the death of Mr Maidens both Hartlepool United and Swansea City mutually called off the game due to commence at 3.00pm last saturday.

Martinez has spoken candidly about his desire to ensure that his young players are road smart and take greater care in the future.

Martinez
Spoke to The South Wales Evening Post:

'When you get so many cases of these horrible accidents it makes you wonder.' Maybe we should look after every single member of our club as if they were family.' I think it's important we get the youngsters together and have a proper chat. It's about passing on the message to make sure they don't take things for granted. Accidents can happen and we must all be careful not to put ourselves in situations where we're taking unnecessary risks.' We have to take extra care on the road and in everything we do on a daily basis.'

The Spaniard also went on to highlight the need for proper screening of heart conditions that have caused premature deaths of Walsall Youngster Anton Reid who died after collapsing at the clubs Aston University training field two months ago.There was also the case of Spanish midfeilder Antonio Puerta who died of a heart condition whilst playing for his club Sevilla in a la liga match vs Getafe CF on August 28th.

These conditions are becoming more commonplace as players are pushed to their limits. The Swansea manager was all to careful to point towards the health of modern footballers must be carefully monitored.

Martinez
told the Evening Post:

'These heart problems have come all of a sudden and I believe they're a result of the extra demands in modern football.' The physical and fitness side of the game is huge now and footballers are putting their bodies under massive pressure. We're doing all we can to spot these problems, with all youth teams now doing tests as standard procedure.' You have to do as much screening as you can and be extra careful, although it's impossible to detect all the problems.'

Last season Swansea City defender Kevin Austin had a heart scare whilst a match was in progress against Yeovil Town. Austin was thankfully given the all clear only days later.

Whilst there is pressure to perform players will always push themselves to the brink of their capabilities to give them the edge.Science and Technology has had a part to play in all of this with new technologies making detection of such conditions easier.

Martinez and the Club have taken the appropriate measures to make sure that the players welfare is looked after.

Hartlepool United and Swansea City have agreed to reschedule the postponed game for Tuesday 27th November at 7.45pm.

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