Footy star Marion Seve is determined to continue playing despite suffering a horror injury during a match that has left him with a visual impairment in one eye.
The defiant Melbourne Storm star, aged 30, was on the receiving end of an accidental boot to the eye while playing for the North Sydney Bears during a NSW Cup game in June. He had feared going blind and having to give up his playing career after the ‘traumatic’ injury, after a stud on the cleat made direct contact with his eyeball.
In a remarkable turn of events, he is now back on the footy but will have to wear a pair of protective goggles for the remainder of his career.
‘I could tell by the doctor’s face that it was pretty serious and there were chances I could lose my sight. I was a bit worried. No one wants to lose their eyesight and there were worries my retina could have been detached,’ Seve told The Daily Telegraph.
After the incident took place, his vision out of his right eye went white. More concerningly, his sight later turned dark.
‘That’s when I started getting worried,’ he explained.
Marion Seve (left) will need to wear eye-goggles for the remainder of his footy career after he suffered a horrific eye injury
Seve (pictured right, with Eels star Kelma Tuilagi) copped an accidental stud from a footy boot to the eye during a NSW Cup match in June, with the Melbourne Storm star fearing he could lose his eyesight
Seve rushed to the Royal North Shore Hospital, where he underwent immediate surgery.
He explained that he also had bleeding to the back of his eye, which doctors later stopped during surgery.
‘It was a waiting game from then on. They told me the injury was pretty traumatic. I always try to brush things off and think I’ll be okay but I could feel the vibe was serious,’ he added.
Doubts started to creep in over whether the Storm centre, who married his partner Chloe in November last year, should continue to play footy.
The 30-year-old revealed that he can now see out of his right eye, but his vision remains blurry, with Seve adding that he needs prescription glasses to read and struggles with his long sight.
Meanwhile, his surgeons had warned that if he takes another hit to the eye, he could permanently lose his eyesight.
Seve first joined the Storm in 2019 and has made 48 appearances for the footy club, scoring 12 tries.
The 30-year-old, who admits he is motivated to push on through adversity, wasn’t going to bring a premature halt to his footy career just yet.
His surgeons had warned that if he takes another hit to the eye, he could permanently lose his eyesight
Seve (centre) had feared that his team-mates would give him a ribbing over his new goggles, but is slowly becoming accustomed to them, scoring three tries on his injury return for the North Sydney Bears on Sunday
Upon recommendations from his club, he has started wearing an eye mask that resembles a pair of ski goggles.
And he got a chance to test them out properly last Sunday, with the footy star turning out for the Bears in the NSW Cup.
Seve touched down for three tries to help his side claim a huge victory against Newcastle, in which he was named the player’s player of the match.
It is not uncommon to see athletes in other disciplines wear goggles. Dutch Football star Edgar Davids, basketball hero Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Collingwood ruckman Mason Cox are some in a long line of athletes to have worn goggles.
However, for rugby league, this is a fairly unique occurrence, according to Bears CEO Gareth Holmes, who added the entire club were worried about Seve’s sight.
‘I’ve not seen a player wear goggles before. They strap around the back of his head. During breaks in play, he took them off to wipe away the sweat, wipe them clear and give his face some air,’ Holmes told the outlet.
‘It would have been foreign to him.’
Seve admitted that it took a bit of time to get used to while adding that he still had some stitches in his eye that he’ll look to get removed during the off-season.
‘I wasn’t too keen on [wearing the goggles] because I’d cop some from the boys and I would look weird on the field,’ he added.
‘It turned out good for me. I had a good response and everyone is happy that I’m back playing. I got the goggles about a week after I hurt my eye so I had been wearing them when training and running to get used to them and to feel comfortable.’
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