Kentish Football 
Concerns over players' safety following Anthony Hogg's horror injury
A photo of Hogg’s injury can been seen on the club website www.chathamtownfc.net and clearly shows just how “lucky” Hogg was that the injury wasn’t worse.
Chats boss Paul Foley told the club's official website, “Ant is out of hospital and by all accounts the plastic surgeon did a very neat job on his face with 5 stitches inside his mouth and 15 or more on the outside of his cheek. The cut was by far the worst I have seen in 20 plus years of non-league football running from the top of his ear to past his mouth, like he had been cut open with a knife. It was horrendous and leaves me wondering what checks are carried out before a game by the officials as the lads' studs or blades must have a rough edge or bit of metal showing.
“The refs check boots but I honestly don't think they are checked thoroughly enough - Hoggy's face is testament to that as he will now be scarred for life but he is lucky it was not nearer his eye, his ear or heaven forbid his neck which is what he was worried about at the time. These are the important things, not how many people are standing up in the box or if you are 6 inches outside of the technical area. These things really get my goat as this game can be very dangerous at times and all too often the mind blowingly unimportant things are focused on while the critically important things are missed. If the game had been halted, the studs checked and a problem found, the officials could be in a very weak position legally if Ant wanted to pursue the matter.”
”I know their lad Simmo well enough (Mark Simmons) having played against him over the years when he was at Thamesmead and I know he is not the type of player to set out to do that - it was an accident with a very high boot as Ant went to flick the ball to Joe Fuller with his head for a return. He didn't stoop to head it, he headed it high. I would imagine Simmo would not know if his studs or blades are dangerous either....it is clearly down to the officials to check this before players enter the field of play.
“Thankfully our physio Phil Jeffs acted quickly and in the right way and the ambulance turned up quickly enough. There was plenty of panicking going on by a few people on the pitch but Phil was superb, as was Deana Twyman who went with Ant to the hospital and stayed with him for hours. Hoggy won't be playing football for a while which is a shame for us as he was hitting good form of late.”
When asked about Saturday’s 2-0 defeat, Foley said, “The first goal was crucial and the longer the game wore on the more pressure they would have felt. We would have got a chance or two as we did with Billy (Shinners) and Firthy (Aaron Firth) in the second half but they are a decent side and we were without some key players and down to the bare bones, as we had been for the two games before. With Brad (Potter), Kane (Rice), Wilko (Craig Wilkins), Heggers (Nick Hegley), Kevin Watson and also Jason Dolby that is six players that would have featured in the game and would have been suited to that type of game. The young lads did well though and we were always in it thanks to James doing what he does best in goal. We showed good character and kept at it but the incident with Ant definitely didn't help the cause as it was so shocking for the lads. His face was wide open showing all sorts and there was a lot of blood.
“We will have Brad, Kane and Jason back for Tuesday’s game at Worthing and hopefully Heggers and Wilko too. It was good to see David Hunt get a run out on Saturday after a very long time out through the world's longest suspension due to snow cancelled reserve games. With everyone available we should be able to get back to picking up some points.”
Article courtesy of Chatham Town’s website: www.chathamtownfc.net
Worthing v Chatham Town
Ryman League Division One South
Tuesday 8th February 2011
Kick Off 7:45pm
at Woodside Road, Worthing, West Sussex BN14 7HQ
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd