HORRIFIC

AN injury to a junior footballer at the weekend was so horrific that a spectator collapsed on the touchline and had to be taken to hospital by ambulance.

The incident occurred during a match between Ballycastle United and Desertmartin when the local club's right back, Mark Jamison, suffered a serious leg break in an accidental tackle.

Referee, Ian Getty, from Cloughmills, immediately took the decision to abandon the game which had been going for just under an hour as players and officials from both sides tried to comfort the injured party as well as attend to the spectator.

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Mr. Jamison, a solicitor, who is from a respected Ballycastle family, is now in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. Ironically, it is the second leg break he has suffered.

Some four years ago while playing in Coleraine he was badly injured and is said to have spent sometime in hospital after suffering complications.

Ballycastle manager, Bob Kane, said the club were devastated by the incident and that the thoughts of everyone were with their colleague whom he described as one of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet.

"Mark or 'Toby' as he is known to many is a great chap. He worked in Belfast, but came down regularly to training and just loved his football.

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"We are gutted. Mark was a genuine fellow and some of us just couldn't sleep on Saturday night after it happened," Mr. Kane told the Times.

Mr. Kane, who, along with colleagues, has been a regular visitor to his player, said the club had been having a dreadful run of bad luck with a number of deaths of relatives of management and players within the recent past.

"Things aren't going right for us, but this injury to Mark was one of the most difficult we have had to deal with. We just hope and pray that things will work out alright for him," he added.

Referee Getty said it was one of the worst injuries he had seen for sometime and that he felt sorry for the player. He said he had little option but to abandon the game.

"No one was interested in carrying on afterwards," Mr. Getty added.

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