A player on the Indonesian Premier League team Persiraja has died from injuries sustained during a match, the Daily Mail is reporting.
According to the report, Akli Fairuz passed away six days after he was cleated in the chest by PASP Sigli goalkeeper Agus Rahman in a very late and dangerous tackle.
The play resulted in a brawl in the middle of the pitch, forcing security to remove the referee from the area after being surrounded and shouted at by players. Fairuz at the time was able to walk away from the scene and even watched the rest of the match from the dugout.
However, he began to suffer from the injuries as time went on, and according to the report, “took a turn for the worse” after the match and was hospitalized, passing away on Friday from internal injuries.
The story is a sad one, and stresses the need to punish harsh and dangerous tackles fairly so that the punishments act as a deterrent to those considering harshly physical play.
Rahman’s tackle was nowhere near the ball, which had already scampered by the pair well before the high boot.
Here is video of the incident:
The play begins at the :28 mark and there is a slow-motion replay of the tackle.