Melbourne teacher receiving end-of-life care after horror head clash during suburban football game

High school teacher Nathan Fitzgerald was playing football for Epping at a match in Lalor on Saturday when he suffered multiple hits to his head. Photograph: Epping-football-netball-club" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="159411" data-entity-type="organization">Epping Football Netball Club/Vic AFL View image in fullscreen High school teacher Nathan Fitzgerald was playing football for Epping at a match in Lalor on Saturday when he suffered multiple hits to his head. Photograph: Epping-football-netball-club" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="159411" data-entity-type="organization">Epping Football Netball Club/Vic AFL Melbourne teacher receiving end-of-life care after horror head clash during suburban football game Epping footballer Nathan Fitzgerald, 27, remains in hospital after hitting his head during a game in Lalor on Saturday Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A suburban Melbourne footballer is receiving “end-of-life” care in hospital after a horror head clash saw him fall to the ground and hit his head on a covered cricket pitch, his club says. High school teacher Nathan Fitzgerald, 27, was taken to Royal Melbourne hospital on Saturday after the incident during an Australian rules football game in Lalor, in Melbourne’s north. According to his club’s president, Fitzgerald had been playing for Epping when, during a tackle, he clashed heads with another player before receiving a second blow to the head “which could have been from a flailing boot or a knee”. “Then he’s hit his head on the ground,” the Epping-football-netball-club" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="159411" data-entity-type="organization">Epping Football Netball Club president, Luke De Vincentis, told Melbourne" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="117087" data-entity-type="organization">ABC Radio Melbourne on Monday. “And [it] has been reported on the part of the ground that’s much harder than everywhere else where the cricket pitch runs through the middle of the ground.” View image in fullscreen Nathan Fitzgerald hit his head on a covered cricket pitch at the football ground in Lalor, his club’s president said. Photograph: City of Whittlesea Council De Vincentis described Fitzgerald as a “gentle soul of a man”, who was loving and humble. “He had this smile on his face – his teeth would light up a room from a mile away because he always had a smile on his face. And [he] just gave time to everyone,” he said. He said the club was still coming to terms with the accident, with a statement released a statement on Sunday saying Fitzgerald’s “condition deteriorated overnight and [he] is now receiving end-of-life care”. “We’ve lost a teammate and a much-loved person from the club – but more importantly the Fitzgerald family have lost a son and a brother,” De Vincentis said on Monday. De Vincentis called for an investigation into the playing of football on fields that have cricket pitches, noting that the one at the ground in which Saturday’s incident occurred had been covered. “There’s always been some risks and concerns involved around the cricket pitches on footy ovals I guess,” he said. “Unfortunately, because we are just local amateur sports, we have to be able to use these facilities for multiple purposes. “But the risk does come that there is quite a hard strip of surface in the middle of a ground where there’s a high velocity, high contact sport played on.” According to The Age, a spokesperson for the Northern Football Netball League has said that umpires inspected the ground before the game. In a statement on Saturday, the league said “there is no suggestion that what took place was anything other than a football accident”. There has been increased focus on head knocks in football in recent years amid a better understanding of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Explore more on these topics Australian rules football Melbourne news Share Reuse this content