An Australian rugby league player has gone to ludicrous lengths in an effort to be ready for the commencement of the NRL season early next year.
Angus Crichton, a 21 year old who play for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, has had a troubling finger amputated so as not having to bother with the more extensive - and seemingly saner - surgery option.
Having signed a new contract with the club earlier in the week, a long-term injury to the middle finger on his left hand initially looked set to sideline Crichton for three months - this was a scenario the young Australian had no intention of entertaining.
Reports of his dissatisfaction with such a prolonged period on the sidelines drove the young man to make a fairly drastic decision:
My finger has been an ongoing injury I've had since I was playing in the under-20s. A while back, I got it fused. I've got no knuckle in it.
[After the last surgery, I decided] I’m going to have it cut in half because I’m just over it.
How this will effect Crichton's ball-handling ability is anyone's guess.
According to the state the finger is currently in however, the amputation will improve his day-to-day dealings with the general public no end:
I can't bend the finger, so it's like I'm constantly giving people the bird. If I clench my fist, my middle finger sticks out.
Amazingly, there is some precedence amongst other Australian athletes for this kind of procedure; AFL players Daniel Chick and Brett Backwell had fingers amputated in an effort to extend the quality of their playing careers.
For Chick, the loss of a finger in 2002 didn't stop him winning a Premiership with West Coast Eagles four years later.
Backwell, an amputee as of 2005, persevered to win South Australia's state league medal for best-and-fairest in the competition shortly thereafter.
So there is hope for Crichton anyway.
