Southern Football League: Keysborough FC’s Matt Ferguson to resume coaching this Saturday

JULY 17 started as any other workday for father of three and footy coach Matt Ferguson — but then he felt the first ominous pains in his shoulders and chest. Just two weeks later, doctors have cleared him to return to his beloved Keysborough Football Club.

MATTHEW Ferguson felt pain across the shoulders and chest but thought little of it.

It started on the morning of Tuesday, July 17. The day before, the Keysborough senior coach had played in a father-son football match and he attributed the aching in his upper body to the exertion of chasing a kick. He hadn’t done much physical activity for a while.

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The pain gradually increased.

Two days after it began, Ferguson was at work, at Jenkins Bros. Engineers in Bayswater, when he nipped into the toilet after a morning meeting.

He started to sweat and feel light-headed. Then he collapsed. Ferguson, 42, managed to get to the door and shout for someone to ring an ambulance. It arrived in seven minutes, only to be called to another emergency.

Keysborough coach Matt Ferguson recovers in hospital after a heart attack.

As he waited for it to return, Ferguson experienced “extreme’’ pain. He began to think he had suffered a heart attack.

“There were bursts of further pain every 30 seconds or so. Felt like someone was pulling the heart out of my chest,’’ Ferguson said this morning.

“Sounds a bit dramatic, but you certainly have those moments where your life flashes before your eyes, where you think to yourself, ‘Geez, is this it?’

“That half-hour waiting for the ambos to come back seemed like hours. Lucky enough they got there and worked on me nice and quickly.’’

The officers quickly confirmed Ferguson’s suspicion about the heart attack. They placed him on a monitor, gave him medication and made arrangements for him to be treated almost immediately on his arrival at Box Hill Hospital.

A groggy Ferguson filled out some paperwork and then underwent surgery involving the insertion of a stent to a badly blocked artery.

“Probably a good thing it happened so quickly, because I didn’t have time to think about what was ahead,’’ he said. “I woke up and it had all been done. Amazing. I’m very lucky with the care I got.’’

His recovery has been “faultless’’. After five days in hospital he was sent home to rest. His heart rate has been steady and the results of all other tests have pleased his doctor. Ferguson jokes that he was a “bit of a rattling cage at the moment, I’m on that many tablets’’.

In his absence, assistant coaches Davor Rajic, Neil Walden and Dave Paten took charge of the team for two matches and two wins, even as players Cam Dalton and Dylan Carlsson went down with season-ending knee injuries.

Yesterday, Ferguson was given the all-clear to resume in his role. He’ll coach the Burra on Saturday.

“It’s been tough away from the club, especially with the two boys suffering ACLs and not being able to get around them,’’ he said.

“I missed those personal relationships the most, actually.’’

Ferguson said the support he had received from the football club, the Southern league and even rivals coaches and players had been overwhelming.

He said football had a remarkable capacity to rally around people in need.

Ferguson is determined to take better care of himself, improve his diet, do regular exercise and find some “relaxing time’’ as he juggles being a husband to Christine and father of children aged 17, 14 and six with his work and football coaching.

“What happened might have been the best thing for me,’’ he said. “Feels like I’ve got a new lease on life.’’

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