Dengue Doyle’s Confeds revival
BETWEEN the Oceania Nations Cup last June, and the Confederations Cup this June, Tom Doyle had a tougher time than most.
After the All Whites’ tournament opener in Papua New Guinea last year, the defender took ill.
At first he thought it was the flu, and after a couple of days, he felt good enough to return to training, but it came back, and worse. His temperature got so bad that he moved his sheets and pillows into the shower, seeking relief in the form of cold water, and that was when it was decided he should go to the hospital.
He was told he had Dengue Fever, a disease carried by mosquitoes – he’d been bitten, unknowingly – that is prevalent in tropical and sub-tropical climates, and can be lethal.
‘‘At the time, it was a bigger deal to other people than it was to me,’’ Doyle said.
‘‘As an athlete, you don’t really think about the seriousness of what things may be. You’re in such a competitive mode that you’re just thinking about the games, and the games you’re missing, and missing out on trainings, and not being able to represent your country.’’
‘‘I was thinking ‘man, will I be able to bounce back in two days to make it back for the finals’, and I didn’t realise that it was going to be a long recovery, and the toll it was going to take on my body.
‘‘When I got home and I saw my family, I realised they were the ones that were stressing out more than I was, they were in panic mode. It took me a while to take a step back and realise I was pretty lucky.’’
Following the diagnosis, Doyle’s condition worsened and he was evacuated to Cairns in Australia, where he began to recover. Once he’d got through the worst of it, he returned home.
‘‘I can’t praise the medevac team that came over enough,’’ he said. ‘‘They said they’d picked up people before who’d been in far, far worse states than I was. I was able to talk, and I was still with it. There were a few giggles on the plane and I cracked a couple of smiles, but I was just shattered by then.’’
Reunited with his parents in Auckland, Doyle had a different view of the Nations Cup final than he had been hoping for, but as the All Whites edged past Papua New Guinea on penalties, he was able to find some energy to celebrate.
‘‘The team had worked so hard to get to that point, and the boys really did deserve to win that tournament. There was a sense of relief, bittersweet though it may have been.’’
Doyle’s team-mates kept in touch with messages of support and a bit of banter.
‘‘I was just telling everyone – ‘spray on as much bug spray as you can, because you don’t want to be feeling like I’m feeling’. I was getting called Dengue Doyle for a bit, and Dead Doyle as well, because I dropped about seven kilos and I looked horrendous.’’
As the Nations Cup ended, Doyle’s recovery was only beginning, with the start of the A-League last October his target.
Doyle will never know for sure, but he does wonder if his illness made him more susceptible to muscle injury. He hurt his hamstring in pre-season, then again in November, and didn’t play regular minutes until just before Christmas.
He didn’t get too down, however, and adopted a lemonade-outof-lemons attitude after talking to All Whites Hudson.
‘‘He goes: ‘It’s not about how you look at these things as a negative, it’s about using them as a positive’.
‘‘The fact was I’d dropped seven kilos, and maybe I didn’t need a few of them in the first place, so I was able to start from scratch almost. I was hitting the gym more, and doing more running, and when I started playing I was covering a kilometre extra a game.’’
Doyle’s injuries meant he missed two national team assignments, but he returned to the squad in March, and was then selected for the Confederations Cup in Russia in June.
In the final group match against Portugal, Doyle started and found himself facing Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the world’s best players, who he was lucky enough to get a photo with afterwards.
‘‘Sitting on the plane going over was a massive thing for me,’’ Doyle said. ‘‘To think I was able to come back from the Dengue, and the hamstring tears, and play at the Confederations Cup for my country against the best in the world, you never would have guessed that 10 months ago. It was hard at times, but if you put your mind to it, I guess you can come back from anything.’’ coach Anthony think we deserved it with the performances at the end [of the season]. We’ve dug out results.’’
For the vast majority of the Bays squad it was their first MPL title with veteran goalkeeper Adam Highfield, defender Ciaran Aherne, midfielder Chris Murphy and forward Geoff MacIntyre the only previous winners, while Sho Mathieson tasted MPL success at Tech.
Meanwhile, Central United have moved within one win of a sixth Chatham Cup title, after easing past fellow Aucklanders Bay Olympic yesterday.
The five-time champions were extremely comfortable at their Kiwitea St home, scoring four second-half goals on their way to a 5-0 win.
Ignacio Machuca had a brace, and Nicolas Zambrano, Emiliano Tade and Alfie Rogers all nabbed one apiece, and Central will now turn their eyes to the final, which will be played on September 10 at QBE Stadium.
Their opponent will be either Onehunga Sports, a cross-town rival, or Cashmere Technical, the Christchurch club that beat them in the 2014 final, which was their last appearance in the decider.
Those two teams meet at Garrick Park in Christchurch at 2pm today.
‘ At the time, it was a bigger deal to other people than it was to me.’ TOM DOYLE