When Christian Eriksen collapsed during the Denmark-Finland Euro game in Copenhagen on Saturday, former East Bengal player Douglas da Silva was reminded of a similar incident years back.
It was an Asean Cup quarter final match between East Bengal and Persita Tengerang in Jakarta in July, 2003.
East Bengal’s Debjit Ghosh fell unconscious after an elbow from a rival player hit him on the head. Teammate Douglas was the nearest to him and the first to react, an act that probably saved Debjit’s life.
“These type of incidents are very scary… Thank god I was near to Debjit. When he went blank, I started giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and he recovered. When I saw Eriksen collapsing, the first thing that came to my mind was the Debjit incident 18 years back”, Douglas told The Telegraph from Sao Paulo on Sunday.
Debjit said he was lucky that Douglas was nearby that day. “I was lucky that Douglas knew what to do in that emergency. Our team doctor Santi da (Santi Ranjan Dasgupta) administered the Decadron injection immediately, which also helped me recover. These two factors probably saved my life that day,” the former India captain recalled.
Douglas credited his quick response to his experience from playing for Brazilian clubs early in his career. “When I played for Brazilian clubs, we learnt from the fire-fighters and doctors how to react during an emergency. I learnt a lot of those things. I was a fighter as a player, so I was never scared of doing anything,” the Brazilian said.
Alvito D’Cunha, who too played that game for East Bengal, said: “Had Douglas not been there that day, the worst could have happened. The game resumed after the incident but our minds were with Debjit, thinking how he was doing in the hospital,” Alvito said.
Bhaichung Bhutia, who was among the television panellists for Saturday’s Euro game, said: “Debjit’s case was a blackout and Eriksen’s had a cardiac arrest, but both the incidents were life-threatening… Both are fortunate.”
Dr Protim Ray, the then East Bengal doctor, didn’t travel with the team to Jakarta for the Asean Cup, but he later on organised some medical camps to educate sportspersons and referees about mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
“I organised camps for the players of both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. I also went to the Calcutta Referees’ Association (CRA) to train all the referees on how they can save the life of a player during an emergency. I think police personnel should also learn the trick. It is not very difficult, but one should know the technique,” Ray said.