Olympics 2024: Hockey defender Matt Dawson reveals why he amputated finger to play in Paris

A Kookaburras defender has survived a pair of Paris warmup clashes despite losing the top third of his ring finger in a warm-up clash. Find out how, and why, he made the decision to go through with the surgery. WARNING: GRAPHIC

Matt Dawson gave part of his right ring finger to play at the Paris Olympics.

Kookaburras defender Matt Dawson has survived a pair of official Olympic practice matches and is ready to take on Argentina as he revealed he had fainted with pain and shock at the hand injury which saw him amputate the top of his right ring finger.

Dual Olympian Dawson has revealed the ghoulish details of the injury which has seen him have that finger cut down below his top knuckle to the same size of his right pinkie finger.

That decision came after he suffered the injury less than a week before the Kookaburras side flew out for Paris and even then he was told he would normally need a month’s rest for the injury to heal.

Instead wearing only his customary protective glove he has been able to handle his stick without pain even after knocking it on the turf several times early in games.

Kookaburra defender Matt Dawson overcome a terrible facial injury to win selection in the Commonwealth Games team in 2022. For Paris, it’s the loss of part of right ring finger. Picture: Ross Swanborough.

As News Corp reveals the gruesome images that show just how much of a sacrifice it has been, he is ready to take on the Argentina side in a pool game in the first hours of official competition.

For Dawson what could have been an impossible decision was made easier when his surgeon told him he faced a 4-6 month recovery with no certainty of full function if he tried to repair a mashed and mangled finger.

So like West Coast AFL star Daniel Chick he has lost part of a finger in search of sporting glory.

“It was maybe six minutes in and the opposition went to drag-flick the ball and my stick and hand were in the end of his swing zone and pretty much took the end of my finger off,” Dawson said.

“I didn’t really look too closely.

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGE Hockeyroo Matt Dawson’s gruesome finger photos after being hit by a hockey stick in a practice match only weeks out from Paris.

Matt Dawson will represent the Kookaburras at the Commonwealth Games. Photo: Hockey Australia

“When people don’t say too much around you and they see your hand you know it’s pretty serious. I tried to stand up pretty quickly and eventually passed out lying on the change room floor. Probably in a bit of shock, to be honest with you.

“Michael Wood was first on site as our team physio and as I showed him my finger he said, “Is it dislocated”, and I probably used a few expletives and I said, ‘I don’t effing think so’.

Dawson detailed the injury to former Kookaburra Simon Orchard on his Parlez Vous Hockey podcast, with his former teammate labelling the injury “the most gruesome injury I have seen in my hockey career”.

Dawson had a choice to make after consulting with his surgeon and his mind was made up before he even called his wife.

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGE Hockeyroo Matt Dawson’s gruesome finger photos after being hit by a hockey stick in a practice match only weeks out from Paris

“We sent the surgeon photos before I went and saw him and he had pretty much made up his mind as soon as I walked in the door.

“You are taking it off. When he said that I said, “Let’s talk through this a bit”, and he was like we can put a wire in it, with four to six months recovery and you are not guaranteed to get proper function back and you will probably have issues with it later.

“Or we can take the top off it and you will most likely play in ten days time,” he said.

“I did ask him the question: You are a surgeon, you need your hands for your profession.

“And he said he would take it off as well, so I made the decision solo.

“Then I called my wife and she said, ‘I don’t want you to make a rash decision’, but I had all the information I had to make the decision in a pretty short space of time I still made it and I can have a pretty good functioning life with a little less finger to worry about.”