Town midfielder grateful for footballing career
- Jonathan Hogg reflects on his worst injury to date
- Town midfielder on how he thought his career was over
- Interview first seen in Town’s match day programme, The Terrier
Huddersfield Town midfielder Jonathan Hogg has spoken of his relief after learning the fracture in his spine wasn’t as serious as he was initially told.
Town’s No.6, Hoggy, faced a fearful injury three years ago to this day, that he thought was going to end his footballing career.
During a match against Bristol City on Friday 17 March 2017, the midfielder collided with Mark Hudson, before hitting the ground injured. For 15 minutes, he lay stricken on the turf surrounded by medics.
Speaking about the events of the day, Hoggy spoke about his initial thoughts in the moments after the incident.
“I panicked from minute one because I’d never felt any pain like it. I feared that my career could be over.
“I hit the ground and pain surged through my body. I’ve never felt anything like it before.
“It was mainly in my neck, but a tingling sensation and the sharp pain surged through my arm and my back. It felt disgusting.”
Having been rushed straight to the hospital, Hoggy reflected on the panic and pain he felt whilst being carried off the pitch by medical staff.
“Once I was put in the neck brace, I really started to panic, not about the injury though, more about the fact that I might not be able to help the team finish the season.
“In the ambulance there was a lot of things going through my mind.
“I was away from home in Bristol and it was live on Sky, so my wife was watching it and just instantly panicked because they were so far away.
“As soon as I arrived at the hospital, I was given tablets and pain killers to try and calm the pain.
“The weirdest thing was that I was still in my boots, shin pads and kit! It was so surreal.”
The midfielder admits he was more scared about the length of time he was going to be out for rather than how serious his injury was.
“The moment I really started to panic was when the Doctor came in and said that I had a hairline fracture in my spine.
“I was bed-bound for the first two or three days; my wife ran around after me and the kids just did whatever they wanted.
“We went to see three or four different specialists to get timeframes of how long I’d be out for.
“We saw one guy in Leeds and when he looked at it properly it was something to do with the bone and it wasn’t as serious as we originally thought.
“I went from the bottom of the earth to being absolutely buzzing thinking I was going to be back in 10 days or something.”
Hoggy was able to return to football just three weeks after the initial injury, much earlier than first thought, in Town’s 3-0 victory over Norwich City on Wednesday 5 April 2017.
Hoggy was quick to mention how happy he was to step back into the dressing room and get back out onto the pitch.
“I went back into the dressing room where all the lads were having a laugh with me saying there wasn’t anything wrong, and they were right, it was just a bad case of whiplash!
“The lads were all chuffed though. Within two days I was back out there with the lads and ready to go.”
This eye-opening interview was first seen in Town’s match day programme ‘The Terrier’
