On the last day of the 2024/25 season, Sam Hutchinson scored the goal that sent his team, AFC Wimbledon, into the promotion playoffs of England’s fourth division – despite suffering a heart attack in the early stages of the match, according to his own account.
His wife noticed early on that something was wrong. “She said I didn’t look well when I was giving an interview after the game,” Sam Hutchinson recalls of May 3. He was actually being celebrated as the winning goal scorer for English fourth division club AFC Wimbledon after their match against Grimsby Town. His goal in the 52nd minute of the last game of the season secured a 1-0 victory for his team, putting them in fifth place in League Two and qualifying them for the promotion playoffs.
However, the celebrations did not last long in the Hutchinson household. The 35-year-old had suffered a heart attack in the opening minutes of the match – and did not notice it until after the final whistle.
“I got on the bus after the game, the adrenaline wore off and the pain in my chest got worse and worse,” Hutchinson explained in an interview on the club’s website. ‘So we went to the hospital and they told me I’d had a heart attack.’
The defender spent the next five days in hospital undergoing various tests. According to Hutchinson, it turned out that a branch of his artery was 75 percent blocked. A specialist in London inserted a stent, a small tube designed to keep a blocked vessel open.
Hutchinson wants to continue his professional career
According to doctors, Hutchinson, who grew up in Chelsea’s youth academy and made five appearances in the Premier League, can continue his football career. “I’m on the road to recovery,” says Hutchinson, adding: “Obviously, it wasn’t a nice experience for my family, but I personally just see it as another injury. Another hurdle I have to overcome.”
For now, however, he is condemned to watching from the sidelines. AFC Wimbledon are in the final of the promotion play-offs to the third English league after two wins against Notts County, and on Monday they face Walsall FC. “It’s all about the team and getting the job done on Monday,” said Hutchinson. But: “I’m devastated that I can’t play in the final.” Instead, he will support his teammates from the sidelines – and “even if it’s just with a smile of encouragement, I’ll be there.”
