NWSL Players Criticize League For Finishing Game, Not Changing Rules After Savy King Incident

Six days after Angel City FC defender Savy King collapsed on the field during a game, the NWSL has yet to publicly announce any changes to league protocols. 

King was transported to a local hospital on Friday after a “medical event” on the field. Angel City later said in a statement that King required surgery after doctors discovered a heart abnormality, and the team called her prognosis “excellent.”

Angel City and the Utah Royals finished the match, which players and the union took issue with. Nearly a week later, the NWSLPA is displeased with the league’s refusal to admit the game should have been suspended or that league protocols need to be changed.

“We reviewed their statement,” NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke told Front Office Sports. “They commented that ‘the seriousness of this incident requires a deliberate process that is careful and methodical,’ making it sound like that is the reason why it’s taking so long. The reality is these decisions are made in real time. A decision needed to be made last Friday night. They didn’t have five days at that point to make the right decision. Then five days later they still hadn’t decided whether or not this game should have been suspended.” 

The union is calling for the immediate suspension of any game in the event that life saving measures are used. The league says its “process” will eventually “include necessary revisions that prioritize the consideration of player, staff and fan well-being.”

King was attended to on Friday night for about 10 minutes before being stretchered off the field and taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The match resumed with 12 minutes of stoppage time added. 

Burke said multiple conversations have been had with the league, but declined to get into the explanation provided as to why a decision to suspend the match wasn’t made in the moment. Asked if future games would be suspended, and who decided to resume play, the league provided its Wednesday statement and then said “we have nothing further to add at this point.” 

“In no world should that game have continued,” Washington Spirit and USWNT forward Trinity Rodman wrote on Instagram. 

Current NWSL rules state “certain event categories automatically trigger the League Office into an evaluation of whether delay or postponement is necessary.” 

According to Burke, this is the only time in the history of the NWSL that life saving measures were necessary during a match. In 2023, Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest during a game against the Bengals and had to have his heartbeat restored on the field. The Monday night game was suspended and eventually canceled, though it briefly appeared that the NFL was going to restart the game; it took the league over an hour to ultimately cancel. The teams never made the game up.

As a result of the NWSL collective bargaining agreement ratified in 2022, each team is obligated to meet medical staffing requirements. Burke commended Angel City FC staff and local EMT’s immediate response, but added that she would expect the same care no matter where a medical emergency like this happened. 

Four matches are scheduled for Friday. Burke said she has no information on whether the league will issue another statement announcing a new protocol requiring the immediate suspension of a match if life saving measures are used. 

“This is a human issue,” Burke said. “The right thing to do was to call this game. It doesn’t take this long to realize that.”