The Scottish Ambulance Service has expressed regret for the "delay and any distress caused" after Partick Thistle's Courtney Stewart experienced a nearly three-hour wait for an ambulance following a head injury during a match against Rangers.
Stewart, who has since been released from the hospital and reported to be "awake, alert, and talking," suffered a seizure after going down in the 10th minute of the Scottish Women's Premier League fixture at Broadwood Stadium on Sunday, which Rangers ultimately won 4-0.
Medical staff from Rangers and first aider responders provided immediate care on the field before Stewart was moved to the dressing room.
She was eventually transported to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow at around 5pm, several hours after the incident occurred.
A Scottish Ambulance Service statement read: "We would like to apologise for the delay and for any distress caused to the patient.
"Unfortunately, at the time of the call we were experiencing pressure on our services due to high demand and protracted turnaround times at hospitals.
"A clinical advisor kept in regular contact with the patient and we hope she is recovering well."
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Stewart wrote a heartfelt thank you on social media and said: "I just wanted to make a personal post about yesterday...
"Firstly, I'd like to say a massive thank you to absolute everybody for all the lovely messages of support - but an even bigger thank you to all the staff at Rangers Women and at Broadwood Stadium.
"Not all hero's wear capes, they sometimes wear the Partick Thistle badge and go by the name Alannah MacPherson - so the biggest thanks to you girl and everyone at Partick Thistle. I'll be back doing what I love most soon!
"Sending love and well wishes to Laura Rafferty also, apologies for the black eye girl."
Scotland captain Rachel Corsie and former Glasgow City star Leanne Crichton debated the issue on Behind The Goals Podcast following comments from Graham suggesting it wouldn’t be allowed to happen in the men’s game.
"I obviously listened to what Brian had to say and you can tell he's passionate because obviously he cares for his players," stated Corsie.
"But I also just think we have to be, I think, mindful of how we probably articulate that because for me, I know he touches on the men's game and other things and that message sometimes gets misheard because I know a lot of people jump on that and it winds some people up.
"It triggers door people to then go down a rabbit hole of talking about revenue. Whereas I think it's paramount we speak about what the players need to make sure players can safely play the sport and is it an elite level.
"There are teams that are professional, semi-professional, we're working towards that being across the board more comprehensively. We need to just know what the right standards are."
Crichton then chimed in to explain why she felt it wasn't just a problem area that only the women's game was immune to.
"I don't necessarily think it's helpful comparing the men's and women's game because I'm not entirely sure that an incident like that today wouldn't have happened at a men's game across Scotland because without a crowd capacity, there's no enforcement of an ambulance," she said.
