Just as I thought I would not get much opportunity to play football in Dublin, I was delighted to find out about the Med Cup. Every year, each of the five batches in undergraduate Medicine would send in a football team to compete against one another in a round-robin format some time in October. In addition, there is an Alumni team which consists of doctors who recently graduated from Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Each team was allocated a different colour and our jerseys were commemorative Med Cup shirts that corresponded to that particular colour code. For instance, the Freshmen team wore blue in 2018. Also, as per the regulations of this mini-tournament, each team was required to field at least two female players at any point during the game, to increase participation amongst our female classmates.
I was very excited to be able to play 11-a-side football again. On the day of the competition, I was surprised at the level of intensity of the games. Tackles were flying, players were pushed and profanities were heard! There were many talented and competitive players who set out to bring glory to their individual teams. Needless to say, I had a great time playing football with my fellow colleagues from the various batches above mine.
During the first year of medical school, I stayed in a student accommodation that was about 20 minutes walk from school. There were also many other international students residing at Kavanagh Court. I was thrilled to find out that someone created a Whatsapp group to organise futsal matches at the park right beside Kavanagh Court. I was fortunate enough to be able to play futsal on a weekly basis at a park which was located right at my doorstep. Through these games, I had the chance to make friends with students of different nationalities and hailed from countries like Spain, France, Germany, India, Malaysia and of course, Ireland. These lads were very talented at football, evident from the flashy skill moves, no-nonsense defending and myriad of spectacular goals scored at Diamond Park.
There were a couple of times when the situation got heated due to ill-timed tackles and cynical fouls. Thankfully, none of these incidents escalated and they were all settled amicably after separately the players involved, giving them time to cool down.
It was a few weeks away from my final examinations and I thought it would be beneficial to play some futsal as a way to destress. Normally, I would wear contact lenses when I play to prevent my spectacles from being damaged. That day, we only had four players available and we decided to have a simple and nothing fancy kickabout. Hence, I thought there was no need to wear contact lenses at all. Well, I was wrong…
While trying to juggle the ball in the air, one of the players accidentally kicked the ball at my face and I started to bleed. Using the front camera of my phone, I found out that I had a 2cm cut between my eyebrows, likely due to the impact of my spectacles. Miraculously, my spectacles were undamaged. I was shocked and could not believe how unlucky I was to be on the receiving end of an injury. It was meant to be a casual kickabout and not an intense game of futsal. Judging from the size of the cut, I was quite certain that I needed stitches. As I made my way to the emergency department (ED) of a nearby hospital with my girlfriend, I braced myself for the imminent pain of receiving stitches on my face.
After receiving treatment at the ED, I was relieved to find out that no stitches were required as the wound was not as deep as I thought. That day, I found out about the existence of Steri-Strips that can secure and close small cuts without the need for stitches. The ED visit was not cheap as it set me back several hundred Euros, but thankfully it was covered by my student insurance.
Since then, I have always made a conscious effort to put on contact lenses when playing football. A small scar on my face is definitely one too many for my liking!
Kaiser 