After SA Football Association (SAFA) chief medical officer Dr Thulani Ngwenya ran on to the field in Yaoundé, Cameroon to overrule medical staff and correctly declare then Liverpool striker Sadio Mané concussed and to order him off the field, he later received death threats from the public, he has since revealed.
Ngwenya’s intervention in January, outside his official role at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations as the tournament's doping control officer, was acknowledged as having potentially prevented a career-ending injury for Mané, who has since joined Bayern Munich, reports TimesLIVE.
The striker had encountered a nasty head-clash with Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha in Senegal’s 2-0 last-16 win at Olembe Stadium on 24 January this year.
Senegal’s medical staff had examined Mané and told him he could continue playing: shortly afterwards he scored the 63rd-minute opener to break the deadlock.
However, Ngwenya ran down from the VIP area to intervene, and later told Marawa Sports Worldwide that Liverpool had subsequently thanked him for his actions.
“I had seen the header (and head clash) of Sadio with the goalkeeper. He went down and out – he was out for a few seconds. Colleagues assessed him, told him to go back and play. Sadio went and scored the goal that took Senegal to the net stage of the competition.
“But he was still concussed. I saw that and rushed down, but when I got there they were already celebrating a goal.
“I spoke to the fourth official to say: ‘Sadio is not fine… I understand colleagues took a decision but I cannot as a CAF (Conferedation of African Football) representative’.
“The match officials understood and stopped the game. I called the doctors from Senegal and said, ‘He needs to go out’.
“Fortunately they agreed. Sadio pulled out and we found out he was concussed. Liverpool were grateful and thanked us for saving Sadio.”
Senegal went on to win the Nations Cup and Mané was man of the match.
Ngwenya defended the decision of the Senegal medical team in international media reports after the game.
“It was extremely difficult because we had so much pressure from people …But we also had the challenge of people perhaps dying.
“So we had to make sure there was a balance. But I used to get calls, and attacked while shopping. At some point my life was threatened.”
He said he was told: “Who do you think you are in football? Football doesn’t belong to you. You're going to die. You need to be careful.”
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