Ailish Considine on concussion nightmare: 'I wish mam was there to give me a hug'

Ailish Considine: 'I had no idea where I was when I was sitting on the bench either. I was trying to figure it out by looking at the sponsors around the oval'. Picture: Mark Kolbe

Clare footballer Ailish Considine has admitted she has no recollection of the incident which led to her concussion while playing for Adelaide Crows in an Australian Women’s AFL game on Sunday.

Considine’s head struck the ground as she raced for possession with Great Western Sydney Giants’ Tari Evans in the third round of their game at Blacktown International Sportspark
She was subsequently removed from play but she has no memory of what happened in the immediate aftermath.

Writing for the RTÉ Sport website, Considine admitted: “There's a gap between when it happened and the end of the fourth quarter that I'm never going to get back. It's a complete blank to me. I was awake and there in person, sitting on the bench watching the game, but I don't remember any of it.”

Some of her teammates have filled her in on what happened afterwards: “At the end of the third quarter when the team huddled together, Chelsea Randall was beside me when our coach Matthew 'Doc' Clarke said I wouldn't be playing on, that I was out with concussion. Chelsea said I had a bit of a tantrum, complaining, 'why can't I play?!' She told me not to worry, that the girls had this. I simply don't recall any of it.

"I had no idea where I was when I was sitting on the bench either. I was trying to figure it out by looking at the sponsors around the oval. I worked out I was in Sydney but I hadn't a clue how I got there, what I did that day or anything. It was a complete blur. It eventually started to come back to me on the bus to the airport as I concentrated hard on trying to remember what I'd done that day.” 

She has since watched the incident back: “My head really hits the ground hard. We were both running full pelt but it was just an unfortunate moment. She tackled me, momentum brought us both forward and my head - rather than my arm - hit the deck first.”

And she absolved her opponent, who pick up a one game ban, of any blame. Considine said: “Tarni sent me a really nice message the day after it to check in on me and apologise for the whole thing but she has nothing to be sorry about. There's no hard feelings at all. It was completely accidental." 

She told RTÉ.ie that she is on the road to recovery: “You're health is your wealth. The games come and go but you've got to live the rest of your life. It would have been a stretch for me to get back this weekend anyway but the protocols take the pressure off the players and the medical team in terms of having to make a 50-50 call on whether or not you're ready. My sister Eimear has had a few concussions playing rugby.

"I've seen the severity of them. Your emotions can be all over the place. Coming back to Adelaide was tough. I just wasn't feeling myself, getting agitated, having headaches, and really wishing my mam was there to collect me from the airport, to give me a hug and tell me everything was alright. I'm on the mend though, and that's a good thing.”

Read the full column here.