Fan medical emergency hits football match again

In a season plagued by fans falling ill in the stands, yet another English football match has been delayed because of a medical emergency – the second-tier game between Millwall and Nottingham Forest.

Just two weeks after a fan collapsed in the crowd during Tottenham's Premier League trip to Watford, London club Millwall announced that kick-off in their Championship clash at home to Forest would be delayed on Saturday.

Mystified fans reacted with alarm on social media after the Lions revealed that the game at the Den, in the south of the capital, would be put back by ten minutes while medics attended to the stricken supporter.

Similar worrying hold-ups have become eerily frequent in England and other countries this season, continuing into 2022 after rarely being witnessed in previous years.

An off-duty accident and emergency doctor saved a supporter who suffered a cardiac arrest when Spurs were at Newcastle on October 17.

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Fan collapses in football crowd yet again

Watford's Vicarage Road was also the setting for a medical intervention on December 2, when a member of the public had to be treated for 30 minutes and carried out after suffering the same ordeal.

Managerial icon Jose Mourinho pledged to give his coat to a 23-year old supporter who was resuscitated during a game involving the Portuguese's Roma side in the Italian top flight, suffering a second cardiac arrest on their way to hospital by ambulance.

Some observers said they were surprised by the unsettling pattern after watching football for decades without ever seeing a medical emergency.

Numerous high-profile health-related episodes have also seen players require treatment for unusually serious ailments on the pitch during matches across the 2021/22 campaign.

Premier League icon Sergio Aguero tearfully announced his retirement with a heart problem after he was forced out of a Barcelona game shortly after joining the Spanish giants.

Sweden defender Victor Lindelof left a Manchester United game prematurely when he suffered breathing difficulties, and Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen recently left Inter Milan because of a pacemaker-style device he had fitted after experiencing a cardiac arrest during a Euro 2020 match.

Millwall did not issue an immediate update about the condition of the supporter who was affected.

Anxious fans were quick to wish the individual well, with one writing: "Hope whoever it is makes a full recovery."

Another sarcastically suggested: "Another medical emergency. Totally normal."