A Scottish footballer was so dedicated to the beautiful game she hammered her knee back into place after dislocating it so she could continue playing.
St Mirren WFC captain Jane O’Toole suffered the injury during their game against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Sunday, February 16.
As she challenged an Inverness player, the footballer was knocked to the ground and flipped over, dislocating her knee in the process.
Inverness Caledonian ThistleRather than wait for the medics to assess her and (most likely) take her off the pitch in a stretcher, however, O’Toole did something that should surely guarantee she won player of the match.
Proving her dedication to the team, she punched her injured knee repeatedly in an attempt to push it back into place, grimacing in pain the entire time.
Footage posted to the Inverness team’s YouTube channel shows the agonising moment O’Toole’s right kneecap pops out after her fall in the 50th minute of the game, prompting a player from the other team to call the medics over.
She was eventually treated by medical staff, but amazingly O’Toole carried on and played the remaining 40 minutes of the game – which St Mirren lost 7-0.
Inverness Caledonian ThistleDespite losing the game, I think we can all agree O’Toole proved her worth on that pitch 100 times over by refusing to let her injury stop her from playing.
Her team tweeted about the incident yesterday, February 21, praising their captain for her brave actions and applauding her for carrying on and playing the full 90 minutes.
They wrote:
Our captain Jane O’Toole, is made of tough stuff. Just look at how she dealt with dislocating her knee during our recent game at Inverness…. you can’t put a good woman down – she got back up and played the full 90 minutes.
Our captain Jane O'Toole, is made of tough stuff. Just look at how she dealt with dislocating her knee during our recent game at Inverness…. you can't put a good woman down – she got back up and played the full 90 minutes ⚫⚽️🔴https://t.co/L8BLAVjmBN
— St Mirren WFC (@stmirrenwfc) February 21, 2020
I’ll be honest, if that were me and I’d just witnessed my kneecap moving to the opposite side of my leg, I would not continue playing – regardless of whether we were losing or not.
In fact, I can pretty much guarantee that at just one glimpse of that injury, I’d have fainted almost immediately and would have been absolutely no use to anybody at all.
Clearly, Jane is made of stronger stuff than I am and continued playing like an absolute trooper, and for that I have just this to say: rather you than me.
In all seriousness though, what a hero. Hopefully Jane makes a full and speedy recovery.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).