Bobby Copping: ‘I went up for a header and could never play football again’

Alasdair Hooper hosts the latest episode of SportSpiel with former Peterborough United footballer Bobby Copping.

Just over a year ago, in July 2020, the Peterborough youngster went up for a routine header in training.

He landed and his vision went. He’d suffered a mini seizure and went on to spend four days recovering in hospital.

The defender hoped it was a one-off incident and he fought his way back to full fitness. But, in his comeback game, he went for a header in the warm-up and it happened again.

At the age of 19 Bobby was forced to retire as a result.

Unsurprisingly, that was an incredibly tough thing to deal with having worked so hard up until that point in his career only for it all to be turned upside down.

With one header it had all ended.

Bobby takes us through those events in this episode of the podcast as well as the incredible mental challenge that came after that sudden retirement.

But he has also worked relentlessly to move forward in life and, with the help of Peterborough United, he has plenty of roles within the club to keep him busy.

He’s also using his experiences as a force for good and earlier this year launched the Bobby Copping Foundation, with the aim to become an independently funded organisation to help players, their families and staff in elite sport.

He has also recently become an ambassador for our charity partners The Mintridge Foundation as he tries to spread his message further.

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Credits

Image credits: With thanks to the Bobby Copping Foundation

Music: Otis McDonald