The Tribune: The miracle of Dawson’s return after horrific eye injury

Indervir Grewal

Five minutes into Australia’s World Cup opener against Ireland, Matt Dawson entered the field for the first time in the match. It was a special moment for the 24-year-old defender — he was making his World Cup debut. In fact, Dawson’s debut was not an exception — 10 players in the Australian team made World Cup debuts on Friday. And having been a regular in the team for the last two years, the Rio Olympian’s selection in the World Cup team was not a surprise either.

But the red-haired, speckled youngster’s journey to the World Cup has been nothing short of miraculous and inspirational. “It’s obviously been a pretty tough year for me,” Dawson said after the win over Ireland. “To come here and play the World Cup is obviously nice,” he added.

A tough year is an understatement. In February, just a few days before the Azlan Shah Cup, Dawson suffered a horrific training injury, almost losing one eye. During a training session in Perth, Dawson was chasing a teammate when the player took a shot but missed the ball and caught Dawson in the left eye with his follow-through.
Dawson was left bloodied on the pitch and was quickly taken to the hospital. His eye socket had broken and he was “lucky” his eyeball didn’t burst. But there was an urgent need for a surgery to stop the bleeding behind his eye, which could cause permanent nerve damage. Dawson underwent a surgery in which the doctors used a bone graft from his skull to fix his eye. He had around 30 staples on the back of his skull, and 30 internal stitches under his eye, Dawson wrote in article for Playersvoice.

Dawson said his first thoughts after the injury were whether he could fly to Malaysia for the Azlan Shah Cup. He could not, he was told. The next thought was about the Commonwealth Games in April. The injury made Dawson realise how all your plans could turn upside down. From being certain of playing the CWG and the World Cup, Dawson didn’t even know if he would get back to hockey. Even after he had recovered, he had doubts whether he would find a place back in the national team.

But Dawson wrote that encouraged words from veteran Mark Knowles, his mentor in the team, that the team needed Dawson back helped him. Amazingly, Dawson recovered and went on to win the gold medal in Gold Coast. After Australia’s win on Friday, Dawson said he was grateful for the “confidence of the coaching group shown in me to help me get to my full fitness” and come to the World Cup. Australia have brought a young group to defend their two back-to-back titles won by the country’s golden generation.