Nottingham Forest star Neco Williams has hit back at former footballer Curtis Woodhouse after the decision to remove him from the Wales v England game due to suspected concussion came into question.
The Wales defender instinctively put his head in the way of a thunderous shot from Marcus Rashford in the 23rd minute before receiving medical attention. He was subsequently pulled in the 35th minute and was replaced by Burnley defender Connor Roberts.
The FIFA mantra pertaining to concussion is 'Suspect and Protect', which is designed to minimise the impact of brain injuries.
GRAB YOUR COPY: Get your brilliant 48-page Wales at the World Cup souvenir special
However, former Sheffield United, Birmingham City and Peterborough United midfielder and outspoken social media user Woodhouse expressed bafflement over the decision.
Writing on Twitter, he said: "Sweet Mary and Josepth!!!! [sic] The world has officially gone mad!!!!!!!!! Wales Vs England in the World Cup and you come off after taking a ball to the head! Scream at me all you like but this is utter utter madness! Pathetic."
The comments elicited quite the backlash from Twitter users. And Williams himself, two days later, responded with: "When you start seeing double the players on the pitch I think I had no choice."
Former England striker Alan Shearer, who has campaigned for changes to the concussion protocols in football, was left irate after the incident for a very different reason. He urged the sport's governing bodies to enable teams to make temporary changes following Williams' head injury.
"I would say to IFAB what on earth are you waiting for?" Shearer told the BBC. "Everyone is under pressure then to make a decision, you’ve got the doctors and physios on the pitch trying to buy time.
"If they were able get him off for 10 minutes, assess him, bring someone on then decide rather than be put under huge pressure. What on earth are IFAB waiting for? Do it now."
Another former England striker, Chris Sutton, who is also a campaigner for reform around head injuries, was also furious at the fact Williams was allowed to play on for a short while before the decision was made to bring him off.
Sutton called for attitudes towards head injuries to change in the game: "Wales take off Neco Williams 10 or so minutes after the initial head injury… totally unacceptable but the norm for football…" he wrote on Twitter.
Jermaine Jenas was another critic of the call to allow him to play on, saying during commentary on BBC: "You are never going to do that (bring yourself off), that's the problem you're never coming off the pitch.
"It has to be taken out of your hands. Why would he want to come off? It's a massive game. You feel for him. I feel for Williams, as you said he has given everything in this shirt, always does for club and country."
Read next:
-
'Reporting this World Cup has been the privilege of my life'
- Where next for Wales, what role do Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey play and how does Rob Page turn things around
- Wales crashing out of the World Cup group stages is both disappointing and a point of pride — it is complicated
- Ex-England star and ITV World Cup pundit reckons he is ‘banned’ from Cardiff after scoring World Cup goal against Wales
