DOYLE: I LIED TO SAVE MY CAREER
FORMER Wolves striker Kevin Doyle has admitted lying about the seriousness of his head injuries in a bid to prolong his career.
Doyle was forced to quit in September after a third serious head injury in less than a year during a game against LA Galaxy for Colorado Rapids in the MLS in August.
The 34-year-old was told by two neurologists he risked permanent damage and repeated concussions if he had any further blows. Even then, Doyle said, he delayed the decision.
The former Ireland striker says it was his wife Jenny who persuaded him to come clean with medics after months of headaches and illness.
Doyle revealed he hid the full extent of his condition after he was given an official concussion rating for the first time in his career in February. He was given a fortnight’s sick leave and then had to undergo a series of tests before playing again.
But the forward, who joined Colorado Rapids from Wolves five years ago, has now admitted that he deceived doctors after the test and then failed to reveal he was suffering repeated headaches. He even attempted to stop heading the ball in training to continue playing.
“I had headaches after most games, some would be OK, but sometimes I really didn’t feel well,” Doyle said in an interview in the Irish Sunday Independent. “I thought I’d get through to the end of the MLS season, try get in the Ireland squad for the World Cup. Colorado were going to offer me one more season. That was the plan. One more year.
“When I went to see the neurologist in September, I told him I’d been having these headaches for the last six months to a year, and he said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me in the last meeting?’. He changed immediately, doing more tests and told me I couldn’t head the ball any more. I’d prefer someone to have said, ‘You must retire’. It was left up to me and part of me did think I could get away with it.
“He said, ‘If you can play without heading the ball, fine, play for one more year, but if you are going to head the ball, you should not play’.
“Immediately, I thought, ‘He did say I could be fine’. He wasn’t saying I couldn’t play. But, the next collision and the headaches will not go away and you will be stuck feeling concussed permanently.”