Photo via Wikimedia Commons
A young rugby player had a bit of a hangup with his play, and that hangup was one of his appendages. Angus Crichton, who plays second-row for NRL's Rabbitohs, had a lot of trouble with the middle finger on his left hand, so he just decided to lop it off entirely—so he could play more freely.Crichton, 21, had the finger amputated by a surgeon earlier this week, so that it didn't have to keep breaking over and over again, according to Fox Sports. After rupturing his tendon when playing in New York, he had several surgeries to correct it. To the point that he no longer had a knuckle and they had to fuse it into one straight, unbendable finger that kept getting broken and re-fused. The result was, uh, unsettling to some.Crichton wrote about it in the Players Voice earlier this month:
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“I can’t bend the finger, so it’s like I’m constantly giving people the bird. If I clench my fist, my middle finger sticks out.
“One time, a while back, I accidentally cut someone off while I was driving and I put my hand up to wave at them to say sorry.
After swearing that the most recent fusion procedure would be his last, he made good on his promise. According to Fox Sports, he rationalized that the recovery period of fusing his finger—set at 12 weeks—would mean he'd miss the beginning of the season, so he opted for the 2-week recovery amputation instead.“It might leave me with only half a finger," Crichton said, "but I guess it would save a lot of confusion.” The lesson here, kids is: don't fight a rugby player. Tough as all hell.“The guy followed me all the way into a dead-end street. We each got out of our cars and he asked me if I’d stuck my finger up at him. I explained to him that I’d had it fused and it stuck out naturally. He understood after that."