Luton Town defender, Tom Lockyer suffered a cardiac arrest during their Premier League game away against Bournemouth.
Play was suspended in the 61st minute when Lockyer suffered a sudden collapse off the ball which promoted Luton manager, Rob Edwards to frantically usher Lockyer’s teammates off the pitch with Bournemouth’s players having followed suit.
Following medical treatment, Lockyer was stretchered off and said to be ‘responsive’ in a statement released by Luton, shortly after the game was officially abandoned.
The fixture between AFC Bournemouth and Luton Town has been suspended.
All our thoughts are with Tom Lockyer at this time. 🧡 pic.twitter.com/cBQhMC5EHu
— Luton Town FC (@LutonTown) December 16, 2023
‘We all hope and pray for our leader and captain Tom Lockyer, who is thankfully responsive and has been taken to hospital.
‘We don’t know the full extent of what happened and what the next steps are at this stage, but we thank Bournemouth and the medical staff on both sides for their immediate response, which was absolutely amazing.
‘We are sorry to all supporters present that players from both sides were in no state of mind to continue with the game after seeing their much-loved team-mate and friend taken off like that, and staff could not carry on with managing the game in such circumstances having had to deal with the situation.
‘We thank everyone for the wonderful applause and singing of Locks’ name inside the stadium at such a difficult time.
‘Now is the time for all of our players, staff and supporters to come together as we always do and give our love and support to Tom and his family.
‘Our thoughts are with him and them all.’
Luton soon afterwards released an updated statement in which they confirmed that Lockyer had suffered another cardiac arrest.
‘We are able to provide a further, positive update on Tom Lockyer’s condition.
‘Our medical staff have confirmed that the Hatters captain suffered cardiac arrest on the pitch, but was responsive by the time he was taken off on the stretcher.
‘He received further treatment inside the stadium, for which we once again thank the medical teams from both sides.
‘Tom was transferred to hospital, where we can reassure supporters that he is stable and currently undergoing further tests with his family at his bedside.
‘We would like to thank everyone for their support, concern and loving messages for Locks.’
Premier League also issued a short statement expressing their support for the Luton captain plus everyone involved in the match across both teams, in which they commented: “Our thoughts are with Tom, his family and all players involved in today’s match.”
The incident was Lockyer’s second collapse of the year after he previously collapsed during the Hatters’ Championship Play-Off Final victory over Coventry at the end of last season.
At time of the game’s abandonment, the score was locked at 1-1 after Elijah Adebayo’s third-minute header for Luton had been cancelled out by Dominic Solanke, just moments before Lockyer’s collapse.
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