Stretcher-bearers are supposed to be helpers on a football pitch, a small beacon of hope for a player struck down by some form of ailment.
However, one pair of these men did exactly the opposite of help in the Greek Second Division this weekend. For when the Ergotelis midfielder Leonardo Koutris went down injured during their game against AE Larissa, he was loaded with the least amount of delicacy possible onto a stretcher, and it all went downhill from there.
The ‘helpers’ tried to take Koutris off the pitch with some haste, only for one to trip over and thus drop him on the floor, then trip over again and this time land on the helpless player, who was gradually slipping off the stretcher as the farce continued.
They eventually got Koutris off the pitch, but offered a final indignity by simply dumping him on the ground, with little obvious concern for his apparent injury.
And to cap things for Koutris, his side lost 2-0.
