It’s not something any of us think about whenever we watch a game of football. After all, with twenty two fit, professional players running around in peak condition, it’s not really something that should even cross our minds. Yet already this season, the health of these professionals has been in the headlines far more often than it ever should.

Back in August, football went through a scary week in which two players died and a third came perilously close to losing his life. In Spain, Seville’s Antonio Puerta collapsed and died during their game against Getafe, as supporters in the ground and at home watched medical staff resuscitate the 22 year old, only for him to collapse again and die, on August 28. Hours after his death, our own Clive Clarke had to be rushed to hospital after his heart stopped twice during a Carling Cup tie on loan at Leicester.

While Clarke survived, and should make a return to active football sometime this year, the very next day, news filtered through of another death, as Zambian intenational Chaswe Nsofwa died while training with Israeli second division side Hapoel Beersheba. In the aftermath of that bizarre week, the media started to pay a little attention to players’ health, noting that all three incidents were brought on by heart problems, and that they weren’t the first footballers to die this way.

Perhaps most famously in this country would be the death of (then) Manchester City midfielder Marc-Vivien Foé, who collapsed and died at the age of 28 after having a heart attack during a Confederations Cup game between Cameroon and Colombia in June 2003. A little over six months later, Hungarian striker Miklós Fehér also collapsed and died during a game for Benfica against Vitoria, at just 24 years old. Then we have the players who had somewhat of a lucky escape, like Luton’s Sol Davis, who suffered a stroke in October 2006.

As 2007 was coming to a close, the issue had been forgotten about, only for it to come back into the spotlight, with the passing of Motherwell skipper Phil O’Donnell. In the aftermath, tributes to the 35 year old were paid by fans all over Scotland, and places further afield like Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada, Africa and Dubai. There were even tributes sent in by supporters and officials from Seville, paying their respects following an incident that appeared to be a carbon copy of Antonio Puerta’s passing in August.

Of course, this isn’t anything like professional wrestling, where performers (for want of a better term) seem to be dying at an alarming rate from steroid-induced heart-attacks, but in a relatively small world of professional footballers, perhaps we should be looking a little closer, perhaps making medicals a little more stringent, performing electrocardiograms on players and checking for rare but potentially fatal heart conditions. These tests won’t be needed on the vast majority of players, but if recent events have shown us anything, then perhaps clubs across the world should make a habit of doing them, and now that the Professional Footballer’s Association are starting to make noises about it, there’s a good chance that these could become as big a part of a transfer as the player’s signature.

The PFA’s Gordon Taylor said after O’Donnell’s death: “It is important for clubs to carry out health checks themselves. You can never tell with somebody if there is a particular heart defect. From that point of view, it is like with any high intensity sport, you are never quite sure (about the heart) until it is put to an extreme test. There's high demand physically. You wouldn't have a racehorse being expected to run three times a week for 30 to 40 weeks per year. There's never been more research into good diets and physiology, so one would expect that would make things better. But the fact is that everybody is doing that. Players are fitter than they have ever been, but we're still losing 50 players a year to permanent injury in spite of improved medical techniques. Every player should have that heart screening to look out for any problems. We had two young players at Accrington who found problems and they have now been successfully operated on and can continue their careers. But aside from that I think there is too much pressure on referees, too much pressure on managers for instant success, and too much pressure from supporters who demand instant success. At times we need to step back and take a breather and remember that this a game for enjoyment."

And while we’re all making such a song and dance about video replays and goal line technology, perhaps we should be making as much noise over the health of the players who we all shout for every time they run out!