Injury to Unley Mercedes Jets player Jacob Earl forces match against Port District to be abandoned

A division one Adelaide Footy League match has been called off after a young player suffered a bad head injury and was taken to hospital on Saturday.

A division one Adelaide Footy League match has been called off after an Unley Mercedes player was badly injured in a marking contest on Saturday.

Jets player Jacob Earl was concussed about 10 minutes into the third quarter of the match at Kingswood Oval.

Anxious teammates and supporters, including Earl’s parents, watched on as he convulsed on the ground following the incident.

The young defender was treated by paramedics at the ground and taken to hospital.

Unley Mercedes player Jacob Earl in action earlier this season. The young defender was badly injured in the Jets division one match on Saturday. Picture: Emma Brasier

Port District, which led 8.5 (53) to 5.4 (34) at the time, was awarded the win after the long stoppage forced the abandonment of the match.

Unley Mercedes coach Adam Jeffries said Earl had a “really bad concussion” but was in recovery after scans showed no further serious injuries.

“He’s gone back with the flight in the back pocket, total accident and no one’s fault, he just sort of got tunnelled as he went up for it and he really crashed to the ground hard,” Jeffries said.

“It was pretty scary.

“He was having a bit of a seizure, convulsing on the ground and it wasn’t a good feeling or sight for the spectators who sit down by that scoreboard.

Unley Mercedes Coach Adam Jeffries described Earl as a “tough little bugger” and praised the respect shown by Port District coach Simon Maddern and captain Sean Davidson. Picture: Emma Brasier

“His mum and dad were right there, 15m from where it happened, so it was pretty upsetting.

“I’ve been around footy for a long time and I’ve never really seen anything like it before … he was in a pretty bad way.”

Jeffries described Earl as a “tough little bugger”.

The emerging defender had been enjoying a breakout season in the Jets’ A grade.

He was named best player for Saturday’s match, the ninth time he has featured in Unley Mercedes’ best this campaign.

In 2016, an Unley Mercedes match was called off after a Jets player suffered a similar injury and several players involved in that game also played on Saturday.

Unley Mercedes’ Jacob Earl gets a kick away against Payneham Norwood Union last month. Picture: Emma Brasier

“We’ve got a pretty young team and they were all pretty upset by what they saw,” Jeffries said.

“So the game was called where it was but, if it didn’t, I reckon a lot of our players probably would have said they maybe don’t want to play anymore after that.”

Jeffries said Port District deserved to win and praised the respect shown by Magpies coach Simon Maddern and captain Sean Davidson.

He said the Earl would likely not play the remaining four games of this season as a precaution.

Earlier this month a Southern Football League match was abandoned after a after a suspected neck injury to Noarlunga’s Jarrad Liebelt halted play for almost an hour.