Television viewers were left stunned when Hull FC forward Joe Westerman dislocated his kneecap – and carried on playing.
The Black and Whites were in the closing stages of their defeat to bitter city rivals Hull Kingston Rovers when TV replays gruesomely showed Westerman’s knee come out of place.
But rather than wait for treatment, footage showed the forward whack his knee in an attempt to put it back in place.
Not for the squeamish! 😬
Hull FC forward Joe Westerman dislocated his knee cap, slapped it back in to place and continued to play against Hull KR pic.twitter.com/QLMia2PYDF— Sky Sports RL (@SkySportsRL) June 28, 2019
After treatment, Westerman’s knee finally went back in its joint. But as he left the field, he protested with the club’s medical staff and refused to leave the field, before taking his position and playing the final minutes of the game, much to the shock of viewers.
And in an even more staggering revelation, his coach, Lee Radford, claimed it happens to the former England fortnight regularly.
“He does that every fortnight,” Radford said.
“It has genuinely come out on numerous occasions – he needs some ligaments in there somewhere.
“It’s a gladiator sport and we had no interchanges left so he stayed out there.
“We conceded the last try though so I told him he should have come off.”
His heroics were for nothing as Rovers scored late on to win 18-10, moving them off the bottom of the league table.
