As Tom Lockyer was treated and then taken off on a stretcher to applause from all four stands, the images from the Vitality Stadium evoked memories: of Christian Eriksen’s collapse in June 2021, playing for Denmark against Finland in Copenhagen, and of Fabrice Muamba in March 2012, playing for Bolton against Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Both lived to tell the tale.
The hope is, long-term, that Lockyer proves as lucky as Eriksen and Muamba. “I was gone from this world for five minutes,” Eriksen said. For Muamba, it was 78 minutes.
Eriksen, who returned to play for Denmark, Brentford and now Manchester United, was fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), which can reset the heart after a cardiac arrest, and that option may yet be open to Lockyer. Muamba retired and became a broadcaster and coach, returning to Bolton in 2022 to work in their academy.
On Saturday night Muamba tweeted: “Wishing you a speedy recovery, Tom Lockyer. It’s great to hear you are responsive and alert. Rest up and God willing you recover well. Thinking of you and your family today.”
This is not the first time Luton’s stalwart club captain has collapsed on field. In the eighth minute of Luton’s playoff final victory over Coventry at Wembley in May he went down while running back and was carried off the pitch in a stretcher. He watched Luton’s 6-5 win on penalties from his hospital bed as his teammates held up his shirt in their celebrations.
“Well not quite where I thought I’d be celebrating at the final whistle!” Lockyer posted on Instagram after the match. “A much scarier moment for everyone else than myself I am sure!”
It was revealed he had an atrial fibrillation, a condition that causes what medical experts call “an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate”. It required heart surgery.
Lockyer confirmed in June that, although the incident left him shaken and “really emotional”, he was given the all-clear by doctors to play again and his contract with Luton was renewed.
“I’ve had the operation to fix it and it shouldn’t happen again,” he said at the time. “There’s not really any reason to say why that happened. It is what it is and I just want to draw a line under it now and move on. I’ve had my full heart checked and double checked with all the scans and tests they can do on a heart and they’ve all come back positive.”
He returned to training in pre-season and he has been a key player for Luton in their stubborn bid to battle relegation against the odds.
Rumours of a similar incident at half-time against Brentford a fortnight ago were quashed at the time by Luton, with Edwards confirming the player got a knock to his back.
Against Manchester City last Sunday, he was one of Luton’s leading lights. In common with many Luton players Lockyer, a Wales international, has been experiencing his first taste of the Premier League after years knocking around the Championship, Leagues One and Two and the Conference Premier League. He joined Luton in September 2020, becoming captain in 2022-23.
The Luton manager, Rob Edwards, liked him to Franz Beckenbauer; Edwards’s assistant, Richie Kyle, reckoned he was more Franco Baresi. “Locks has been amazing,” said his teammate Gabe Osho during their unlikely run to Premier League promotion last season.
Lockyer came to Kenilworth Road after a season at Charlton; before that he was for seven years at Bristol Rovers, having been released by Cardiff, his hometown club.
He was in Wales’s World Cup squad for Qatar 2022, but did not play. However, he returned to the international side for the first time in three years against Turkey last month in a 1-1 draw.
