A grandmother died after being struck on the back of the head by a rugby ball as she watched her grandson play, an inquest heard.
Jennifer Selwood, 69, suffered a bleed on the brain after being struck in the accident at Taunton RFC in Somerset in January 2020.
The inquest in Wells heard Mrs Selwood had diabetes and the blood disorder aplastic anaemia, which would cause bleeding and clotting problems if she suffered a trauma.
Mrs Selwood’s husband, Colin, told the hearing he and his wife were standing next to each other when his wife was hit by a ball from the adjacent pitch where another youth team was warming up.
“She just made a groan and collapsed to the ground, and I went down to support her,” he said.
“People came across and asked if she wanted a chair and water and that sort of thing.
“I think there was an off-duty doctor in attendance, and they just told me to stay there and hold the back of her head, which is what I did.”
Asked whether he saw when his wife was struck, Mr Selwood replied: “Not really because I was facing the same way as Jennifer was.
“I just heard a thud, and she went down.”
Mr Selwood said there were no signs to say they should not stand there, and he was not aware of any activity taking place behind them.
The inquest also heard from Mrs Selwood’s son, Dan, who was a youth coach at the club, when he became aware of the incident and ran over to her.
He said: “When I was with mum she started complaining of pain and started rubbing the back of her neck. She started to drift quite quickly.”
Dr Sarah Allford, a consultant haematologist, had been treating Mrs Selwood for diabetes and aplastic anaemia.
She said she would have been at “risk of significant bleeding” in the event of a trauma or surgery.
“The impacts of the rugby ball would, therefore, have been sufficient to cause her greater bleeding problems than someone with a normal platelet count,” she said.
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“Any bleeding had the potential to proceed more rapidly and to be more persistent with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality.”
The hearing continues.
