Injured rugby player Dan on the mend after broken neck

Dan Smith, who plays for Old Brodleians RUFC, was rushed to Sheffield Hospital two weeks ago after sustaining the injury in a game against Sheffield.

The 18-year-old works as a builder and lives in Warley Edge. He won the youth team player of the year last year and has played a few times for the first team.

Dan’s dad Martin played over 400 times for Old Brods and said: “Liam Scott, the second team coach, rang to tell me and I went to see him in Sheffield Hospital.

“He was on a bed in a neck brace and stayed in from the Saturday night until Thursday night.

“We’ve had the best possible outcome, especially considering what happened with Dom a year ago.

“I’ve been involved with the Brods for 40 years and I’ve never known it happen before, never mind twice in one year.

“It highlights how important it is to have the right medical staff at every game, at whatever level.

“Someone has to be there that has first-aid training, but thankfully the Brods physio did everything right on the day, and the Sheffield coach is also a GP as well. We’re all so grateful for their help on the day.”

Dan plays at centre or wing and has played for Old Brods since the age of four.

“He will walk again and work again,” added Martin. “He would like to play again but it’s too early to say.

“He’s doing quite good really. He’s still tired and he’s got poor mobility in his hand due to nerve damage.

“Long-term he will recover but we don’t know whether he will play again because we haven’t spoken to the specialists about that yet.

“He’ll be having physio for his neck once he gets out of his brace but that won’t be for another three months.

“But he’s reasonably optimistic about it.

“He went back to the Brods last Saturday for an hour or so and we went out onto the pitch.”

A Broken Neck Fund, started by fellow Brods player Dom Georgiou, who also suffered a broken neck a year ago while playing for the team, has raised more than £3,000 to provide Dan with some money while he is off work.