Tom Lockyer, captain of Luton, fell lifeless on the grass of the Vitality Stadium, where his club was playing against Bournemouth, and the match referee decided to suspend the English football league match.
In the 59th minute of the match, the 29-year-old collapsed and was treated on the field for several minutes, before being removed and taken to hospital.
Lockyer fell onto the field of play with no player nearby, and the players realized the situation almost immediately and asked for quick assistance. Luton’s manager also immediately attended the scene.
Given the seriousness of the situation and with both teams already leaving the field of play, the referee, Simon Hooper, decided to suspend the match at minute 65, when the score was 1-1.
“Our thoughts are with Tom Lockyer and all the players involved in today’s match,” the Premier League would later write.
According to reports cited by the BBC, the player was conscious when he was taken off the field.
“We are all praying for our captain Tom Lockyer, who is responding and has been transported to hospital. At this stage, we don’t know exactly what happened and what the next steps will be, but we are grateful to Bournemouth and the medical staff from both teams. for their immediate response, which was absolutely fantastic,” said Luton, in a post on the social network X.
Our medical staff have confirmed that the Hatters captain suffered cardiac arrest on the field, but was already responding when he was stretchered off.
He received additional treatment inside the stadium, for which we once again thank the medical teams on both sides…. pic.twitter.com/YCTiHtH5Nx
-Luton Town FC (@LutonTown) December 16, 2023
In the same text, the club explains that the players of both teams were not in a position to continue the match after the episode they witnessed.
Lockyer, a center back and international with Wales, had already been the focus of a similar situation in May, in the final of the second division play-off (‘Championship’) that Luton played against Coventry, at Wembley.
At that point, he went to the hospital for additional tests and ended up being treated later for a heart problem.
In the match, Elijah Adebayo put Luton ahead after three minutes. In the 58th minute, just before the Luton captain collapsed, Dominik Solanke equalized.
Source: TSF
