LALOR — Nathan Fitzgerald, a 27-year-old high school teacher, was seriously injured during an Australian rules football match in Lalor on Saturday and is now receiving end-of-life care. His condition deteriorated overnight after sustaining multiple head injuries during a game for the Epping Football Netball Club.

During a tackle, Fitzgerald clashed heads with another player. He then received a second blow to the head, which was possibly from a flailing boot or a knee. Fitzgerald subsequently hit his head on a covered cricket pitch located in the middle of the football ground.

Fitzgerald was transported to Royal Melbourne Hospital on Saturday following the incident. The Epping Football Netball Club issued a statement on Sunday confirming his condition had worsened. Luke De Vincentis, president of the Epping Football Netball Club, stated, "Then he's hit his head on the ground. And [it] has been reported on the part of the ground that's much harder than everywhere else where the cricket pitch runs through the middle of the ground." De Vincentis called for an investigation into the practice of playing football on fields that contain cricket pitches. He indicated that umpires had inspected the ground before the game, and the Northern Football Netball League stated on Saturday that there was no suggestion the event was other than a football accident.

De Vincentis elaborated on the inherent risks, stating, "But the risk does come that there is quite a hard strip of surface in the middle of a ground where there is a high velocity, high contact sport played on." He further commented on the necessity of utilizing such facilities for different sports, saying, "Unfortunately, because we are just local amateur sports, we have to be able to use these facilities for multiple purposes."