Errol D’Cruz

Two heroes in an enthralling Men’s EuroHockey championship that concluded on Saturday wore masks. And no, they aren’t goalkeepers.

One is Jip Janssen who scored the equalizer seconds from the end for hosts and eventual champions The Netherlands against Germany in the final and take the contest into the shootout. The other is England’s Sam Ward who emerged joint top scorer of the tournament.

Both players made heartening comebacks to the pitch after sustaining serious eye injuries in the heat of battle. Sam Ward was hit by a ball played by a teammate in an Olympic qualifier against Malaysia in London in November 2019. Janssen suffered a similar fate in a Dutch top league clash while playing for Kampong against Bloemendaal in April.

Janssen reportedly said he couldn’t see anything with his left eye after stopping a ball played by the opponents. After receiving treatment, he managed to walk off the pitch himself and went straight to the hospital.

The defender’s vision became blurry and Janssen said it was like viewing underwater without goggles but as time went by it improved and doctors were able to assure him that it was back to normal. Janssen, however, has not relented on taking utmost precautions and wears a mask on the pitch.

So too Sam Ward, whose misfortune was even more serious. The livewire forward has been left with impaired vision after the incident in his left eye after a teammate shot the ball which shattered his socket. It caused seven facial fractures and a torn retina. Major surgery left four metal plates and 31 screws to support his face.

To return to normal life for either player was a huge challenge. To take the pitch in a demanding sport is nothing short of phenomenal.

Curiously, both players are drag-flickers besides carrying out their positional duties commendably. Ward, 30, scored six goals, including a hat-trick against Spain, in the championship to shared joint top spot with Belgium’s Tom Boon. Janssen, 23, scored three goals in the tournament – two of them as rescue acts, in the semi-final against Belgium with a 56th-minute equalizer to take the match into the tiebreaker as well as the final with the last play of the encounter.

The final was played on the same day as Denmark’s midfielder Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch in the Euro (football) clash against Finland leading to bated breath across the world before the news came in that he was stable in hospital.

It reminded one of the precarious situations that arise in sport and Janssen and Ward are prime examples of exuding the courage to re-emerge and perform with aplomb at the highest level.