Doctors told Sean if he hadn’t been refereeing the match, he’d have had a 10 per cent chance of surviving
Sean Newark(Image: Jo Newark)
The local football community has rallied around a beloved football referee who suffered a heart attack during a youth match.
Sean Newark, event and fundraising director for Plymouth Parkway, had just started refereeing an under-14s match between Lakeside and Activate on Saturday, October 3, when he began to experience chest pain and was taken to the dugout.
It was later found that Sean, 64, had suffered a heart attack and was taken to Derriford Hospital in an ambulance.
His wife, Jo, explained how Sean had come over “feeling sweaty and didn’t really feel like himself” after parking up on Saturday morning, but said he hadn’t wanted to “let people down”.
She told Plymouth Live: “Around 15 minutes in, he blew the whistle and the kids were like ‘hey, this isn’t half time’. He was taken to the dugout because he wasn’t feeling well and was clutching his chest. He got a quick call to me to say they were calling the ambulance, so I then went over to be there with him.
“The ambulance had just arrived when I got there. What made me emotional was they asked if they should get a bed and he said ‘no no no, I’ll walk’. And all the supporters and everyone clapped him off the pitch, which shows how good everyone way, supporting him.”
Jo said another official then took over the match, and she’s since heard from the appointments secretary about how concerned the children were about Sean.
The life-long football lover was taken into an ambulance but, at that point, Jo said she didn’t know just how serious things were until they got to hospital and doctors had completed several scans.
“He thought it was like a muscle strain,” she said. “The ambulance crew worked on him and then they opened the doors and said they were taking him straight to Derriford because his chest wasn’t right. They’d thought he’d had a heart attack.
“And I was like ‘oh, this is a bit real now’. We were straight into acute A&E and they got him all the blood thinners, wired him up and down for a CT scan. I couldn’t have asked for better if it was private care.”
Sean stayed in hospital over the weekend, where doctors found he had a rare hereditary heart condition. Despite how scary it was at the football match on Saturday, Jo said her husband was lucky the attack happened there.
Jo explained: “Because he was in referee uniform, part of their procedure is to get an ambulance to check him over. So that’s what saved his life that day. If he’d been in the community, they said he’d have a 10 percent chance of survival.”
Sean is now waiting for surgery at Derriford Hospital, and Jo has passed on his message of thanks to the whole community.
“I’ve had lots of communication from the football community. They’ve been amazing. He’s also a director of Parkway Football Club, so he eats, sleeps, dreams football.
“He says if he can encourage them into football and it helps them stay away from crime, he’s happy. That’s his input.
“If you get them into sports when they’re young, the chances are they’ll go on, you know, that camaraderie through the team and. Keep fit as well as keep off the streets of crime. That’s, you know, what the way he looks at them, the sport he invest in from grassroots up.”
As well as refereeing matches for some of the youth teams, Sean has himself had an extensive career in non-league football, including spells at Salisbury FC, Liskeard, Bodmin, Ottery St Mary, Millbrook and Tavistock.
“I’m inundated with calls and texts,” Jo said. “Even from the ambulance crew, everyone was just amazing and swift, when time is of the essence.
“He wants to thank the officials that were there, because another official had to step in to continue refereeing the match. The supporters too, everyone there. We can’t thank them enough.
“They’ve been texting everyday, asking if we need anything. They’ve been absolutely amazing. Everyone, emergency service, people on the pitch, officials, the communication from Parkway. We can’t thank everyone enough for the support.”
Jo added that Sean should be able to go back to his normal, very active lifestyle, following his surgery.
“They did say once this operation is complete and he’s had his recovery, he’ll feel 20 years younger!”