By James Oaten

By Danny Tran

Topic: Sports injuries

Tuesday, July 7, 2026, at 5:02 am

Nathan Fitzgerald died after getting very bad head injuries during a local football game.

The group that keeps workers safe is looking into what happened because a player got very hurt when his head hit a cricket pitch.

Nathan Fitzgerald died in the hospital on Monday night.

The safe work group knows about what happened to Nathan Fitzgerald, who was 27 and got hurt very badly during a local game.

The city in charge of the field says they followed safety rules, but they will look at it again if the field was part of the problem.

Nathan Fitzgerald, a football player from Epping, got hurt very badly during a game.

Nathan hit his head twice and then hit the ground, which has a special pad to help absorb shocks.

The special cover on the field was bought last year, and this is only the second time it has been used.

The mayor of Whittlesea said if the field was part of the problem, they would look at the rules again.

He also said any changes should be based on facts.

Someone wants the main football group to check fields every year.

Peter Jess, who helps players and talks about head injuries, wants the main football group to check all fields used for football.

He thinks it's not fair that smaller teams don't have the same safety rules as the big teams.

Peter Jess says all safety rules should be checked all the time, from the top teams to the smaller ones.

He said having a hard surface in the middle of the field is very dangerous.

Last year, Peter Jess asked the main football group and the safe work group about checking fields after one of his players got hurt very badly.

He thinks both groups should make sure players are safe.

He said all teams, big or small, should have the same safety rules.

He also said all safety rules should be the same for all teams.

The main football group did not comment on this.

Nathan's injury was very rare.

The news has been talking about how dangerous contact sports can be, including head injuries and a brain disease called CTE.

A doctor said Nathan's injury was likely a skull fracture that caused bleeding in his brain.

He said this kind of injury is very rare but could happen when someone's head hits a hard surface.

He compared it to falling off a bike and hitting your head on the ground.

There's a debate about using helmets in football, with some saying they don't help prevent head injuries.

A doctor said there's not much proof that helmets prevent head injuries or diseases like CTE.

But he said helmets might help prevent skull fractures.

He also said there's still a lot to learn about brain injuries.

He thinks the best way to prevent injuries is to make sure fields are safe and don't have hard surfaces.

A mother of a player who died wants more awareness about brain injuries.

The tragedy of Nathan's death has made people talk about brain injuries in sports again.

A woman whose son died after a collision on the field wants all sports to teach people about head injuries.

She thinks there should be rules to make sure everyone, from players to parents, knows about head injuries.

She said there's a difference in how head injuries are handled in big teams versus smaller ones.

She wants kids' safety to be the most important thing, not just winning games.

Tuesday, July 7, 2026, at 5:02 am

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