England doctor welcomes new centre

England team doctor Ian Beasley has hailed the new St George’s Park complex in Burton.

Beasley said the centre’s state-of-the-art medical facilities will improve health screening for footballers.

Beasley’s comments follow the recent collapse of Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba during an FA Cup clash at Tottenham last Saturday.

The Burton centre is part of the FA’s aim to gain FIFA’s F-MARC for excellence, and Dr Beasley believes it will help to pick up such medical problems at an earlier age.

“We will be able to monitor players from a much younger age and in far more detail,” he told the Daily Mail.

“We will have the capacity to view their skeletons, monitor their heart rates, give them cardiac tests, from the youngest teams right up to the national side.

“If they are part of an academy the information will go onto the passports they receive under the Elite Player Performance Plan.

“St George’s Park is something very close to my heart and whilst I have been to many FIFA centres of medical excellence around the world, it has the ability to be much better.

Muamba’s ordeal has led to calls by many for more rigorous and regular checks, and Dr Beasley believes clarification and guidelines are needed from governing bodies.

“In the past there has been no real consensus about how often screening should be done,” he said.

“FIFA say once every two years, UEFA say every year, in Italy it is every six months.

“Doctors would love to see every player screened all the time, but there is a cost implication. When we sit down together in May we will talk to each other and see what the best way of screening should be.

“After all, we might not get everything but if we manage to save one player, it has to be worth considering.”

Dr Beasley was keen to point out, however, that Muamba was in the best possible place to receive his life-saving treatment.

“I quite often say if you are going to have a heart attack, do it at 3pm on a Saturday at the Emirates Stadium or White Hart Lane, or wherever,” he said.

“Not only do they have the facilities, they have the best trained people.”