Hypothermia cuts down soccer player

Carterton teenager Azim Sheik is looking forward to being back on the field this Saturday for two games. Picture / Wairarapa Times-Age

Sports experts have cautioned umpires and coaches to take care assessing the weather after a 19-year-old soccer player collapsed in freezing conditions during a match in Masterton.

Azim Sheik, 19, of Carterton, was rushed to hospital with severe hypothermia after he passed out in the game between Wairarapa United and Featherston on Sunday.

The Wairarapa College student took half an hour to regain consciousness after he almost stopped breathing.

The game was called off after he collapsed, but New Zealand Soccer said yesterday it should probably have been cancelled.

Azim said it was hailing and raining before kick-off at 1pm.

"I thought the game would be cancelled, but it wasn't."

He said the cold really began to get to him after halftime.

"I couldn't clench my fists or walk anymore."

He was also struggling to breathe and felt pain when touched. He collapsed seconds after telling his coach, who was on the sideline, he could not go on.

"The next thing I was lying on the ground."

The coach and Azim's parents rushed him to Masterton Hospital.

Azim's father, Aniz Ali Sheik, said Azim was unconscious and his breathing very shallow.

"We were just rubbing his chest and trying to keep him warm," Mr Sheik said.

Azim, who moved to New Zealand from Fiji two years ago, woke half an hour later with an aching body but was feeling none the worse for his experience yesterday.

He believed the cold had such a dramatic effect on him because he was not yet acclimatised to the local weather. He was not angry the game went ahead in the foul conditions but thought it was stupid from the point of view of play. "No one could really function."

New Zealand Soccer chief executive Graham Seatter said he had not talked to the clubs involved but thought the game should probably have been cancelled. 

He said it was the responsibility of referees and coaches to decide whethers to cancel games in bad weather.

"If there's a risk of negative health conditions because of the conditions, the people organising the game should be looking very closely at whether the game goes ahead."

He had never heard of a player collapsing because of the cold.

Dr Stu Thomson, New Zealand team doctor at the 2002 Winter Olympics, said it was highly unusual for a person to collapse on a sportsfield from hypothermia.

He said athletes were more likely to suffer heat exhaustion, and he had seen a women's rugby league tournament final played in snow without any problems.

Dr Thomson said a range of factors would contribute to such a collapse, including the victim's level of hydration, activity and food intake. "It's not just about the weather."

Young people were more susceptible to the cold partly because they tended to be thinner.

He said it was difficult to say how bad weather should be before games were cancelled because of the range of factors involved in hypothermia.

"But obviously player safety is of very high consideration."

The temperature in Masterton on Sunday afternoon was 6C, but MetService senior meteorologist Paul Mallinson said strong southwesterlies left a 1C wind chill in their wake.

"That's hypothermia-type stuff if you don't have enough clothes on."

Azim, who has played soccer since he was a child, has not been put off the game by the incident.

He trains eight hours a week for two teams - the Wairarapa United development squad team, from which the club's senior team is selected, and the Wairarapa College premier team. He is looking forward to getting back on the field for two games this weekend.

He said he would love to play for the All Whites one day, "if I can get there".

Killer cold

* The first signs of hypothermia include bouts of shivering and grogginess.

* Severe hypothermia is characterised by unconsciousness, little or no breathing, and a weak, irregular or non-existent pulse.