The Gaelic footballer who ended up in a coma after being struck off the ball during a game in San Francisco last June has hit out at the GAA over its attitude towards violence on the field of play.
Mark McGovern told the Cork-published Irish Examiner that while he had forgiven his assailant he was "furious" with GAA over the maximum 96-week ban that was handed down to the player who had struck him.
"You give an official a slap in the arse, you are gone for life," said McGovern. I was nearly killed and he gets 96 weeks. I'm good at moving on, but I'll stand in front of those changing rooms if they let him play again. I don't want him to touch an O'Neills ball again," McGovern, who is from Fermanagh, told the daily.
And he continued: :Football was such a big part of my life and it was taken away from me. But the position I'm in now, other than him playing football again, I feel nothing against him really. I feel sorry for him being that type of person and he's now in a far worse position than me. I'm back on my feet and he has to live with this.
"But when championship comes around and I can't play and I can't train, I don't know what way I'll be. Maybe then I'll go outside and scream at the top of my voice."
McGovern was felled off the ball during a game between his Ulster club and San Francisco Celts.
When he eventually recovered consciousness and after initial rehabilitation work, McGovern returned to Ireland but the family still faces a huge medical bill in San Francisco, reportedly in excess of $1 million.
McGovern told the Examiner of what appear to be continuing effects from his brain injury.
"I get into dazes. Once my eye catches something I'll spend three or four minutes staring at it before I snap out of it. I tell myself to stop but that doesn't work. When I'm talking, a word won't come and I'll have to use four or five words to explain it. It could be something so simple and I end up relying on the person beside me to think of it. I need to take a nap in the day. So I'm worried about finding a company that will take me on and give me a fair shot. At times I feel lost," he said.
