‘I wouldn’t have been able to breathe without open-heart surgery - now I can carry on with life’: The incredible tale of the Portsmouth goal machine told he’d never play football again

Alfie Rutherford’s aortic valve was narrowing to the point where if action wasn’t taken, one of non-league football’s hottest properties was in danger of being unable to breathe.

Five months earlier the 24-year-old was being touted for a move to League One, with Pompey said to be among his suitors after a 32-goal campaign had got the game talking about the Copnor ace.

Now his life was in the hands of the heart surgeons at Southampton General Hospital’s cardiac unit – which Rutherford feels he owes everything to.

‘The first signs came when I went for a check last year and was told the narrowing of the valve was starting to increase quite a bit,’ the former Blues academy youngster explained.

‘Because of Covid I hadn’t seen them for a couple of years, and their judgment was that it was happening a bit too quickly for their liking.

‘My aortic valve was shrinking and the blood was struggling to get through.

‘If I’d not had it done the valve would have narrowed, I wouldn’t have been able to get enough blood around my body and I wouldn’t have been able to breathe.

‘I was at the maximum diameter they were willing to let it be to let people carry on with life. It had got to that point.’

When Rutherford became conscious 24 hours after having his sternum broken to allow the procedure to take place, he found himself hooked up to a ventilator in intensive care.

Incredibly, however, within five days the Dorking Wanderers striker was given the all-clear to return home to continue his recovery with his family.

Such awe-inspiring resolve should come as no surprise, though, to a fighter well versed in bucking conventional wisdom. After all, this is a talent who was told the heart disease he’s lived with virtually his whole life, aortic stenosis, would stop him playing the game he loves.

‘On the day of surgery, I woke up at 6am and started getting the drugs I needed,’ Rutherford said of what unfolded. ‘The next thing I know it’s 7am the next day and I’m on a ventilator in intensive care.

‘I must have been the youngest person in the ward by about 40 years!

‘But I had surgery on the Monday and was out on Saturday. It’s always going to be there and it will never be 100 per cent perfect, because I’ve got a graft in there now.

‘I never even used to think about it, I just used to get a letter in the post saying come for a check-up. It’s never something I really took seriously. It’s only now having this operation I realise how serious it is.

‘When I found out who the surgeon was I researched him, he’s been using 3D hearts to help little little girls who’d been born with their heart the wrong way around. It’s crazy, and I’m so thankful.

‘You hear people say doctors and surgeons should get more money than footballers. Well, let’s just say I agree with that.’

It was eight years ago Rutherford’s dreams were shattered, when he was released by the club he played for since the age of eight - and informed his football days were at a close.

Pompey, a year after coming out of administration, decided they weren’t prepared to offer the former Miltoncross Academy student a two year scholarship because of his heart issues. Rutherford’s world came crashing down.

Being told playing the game was no longer an option due to no fault of his own, was gut-wrenching for the then 16-year-old to hear. It was also factually incorrect.

‘It was a bit of an awkward one,’ Rutherford said of the way his Pompey release was handled.

‘I was at Portsmouth and they told me I would never be able to play football again.

‘But I had meetings with the FA and an FA doctor, they basically said no one can actually stop you - it’s your life.

‘Football clubs, though, would run the risk. Maybe that’s what Portsmouth should have said at the time.

‘Maybe they should have said “we’re not taking the risk because of insurance”. I know if I was to collapse on a football pitch it could possibly cost a club a heck of a lot of money. At the time it wasn’t handled brilliantly, though.

‘I’d told Portsmouth I’ve had this ever since I signed there at the age of eight. I couldn’t have done any more, I told them every year I had it. There was a lot I was promised, and I felt they could have helped me out with some stuff. Nothing got sorted, but I guess the club was still getting on its feet.

‘I felt like I’d earned my chance and I got the offer, so I did earn it. Then it got taken away from me for no reason I could help. It was so upsetting.’

Out of the pain of Pompey rejection, Rutherford found depths of determination and resolve which has resulted in a football journey which speaks of the fortitude which permeates through this fighter.

From professional dreams, he found himself in the ninth tier of the English game turning out for his father’s Moneyfields side in the Wessex League.

It was then Rutherford was converted from a defender to a striker, an inspired move which was to be the turning point in the poacher’s career as a flood of goals followed.

Stop-offs at Bognor, Hawks and Eastbourne ensued before a move to Dorking two years ago, which has seen his standing as one of the hottest properties outside of the top four divisions solidified.

Rutherford said: ‘The best thing to happen for me was signing for Moneyfields. Why? Because I learned to play against meatheads!

‘They were bruisers, the ones that are just there to hurt you. That was the best way for me to learn.

‘The further you go up, the less it happened and it started to become more sensible in a way. It was a man’s game and I learned from it. It wasn’t youth football where you have the ball until you get in our half, and then we’ll start to tackle you.

‘I think I’ve had a better career doing this than playing academy football. I’d say that to any kid. If I’d stayed in the academy, I’d probably still be a centre-back, which I’m definitely not. To be honest, I’ve never seen the path I’ve taken as a bad thing.’

Rutherford’s continued rise came to a concerning halt in September, when he suffered a freak knee anterior cruciate ligament injury against Wrexham.

It means his season came to an unscheduled close in the kind of fashion which could break many other players.

This, however, is not most other players.

‘I’ve had a little bit of back luck,’ Rutherford joked, referencing the potentially career-threatening injury, as if it was a sprained ankle. ‘I suppose I don’t do things by halves!

‘It happened against Wrexham, I was chasing the defender and kind of jumped into it, as I did the foot stayed in the ground and the knee twisted.

‘It felt like someone had just put a sniper bullet through my knee.

‘I’ve had other setbacks, though. I’ve had to deal with all of that talk clubs don’t want to run the risk with someone who has a heart problem.

‘I was released by Portsmouth and I started roofing when I was 16. I’m still doing it now. I always had that plan that if I didn’t make it I had to get a job, and I’m thinking of going to university to do business management.

‘So it’s a year I will have to just cross off. I’ll have the surgery and I can start smashing out the rehab and get back quicker than expected.

‘I see why people would think I’ve been held back by what’s happened to me, but I honestly don’t.

‘It’s not like I’ve looked at it and regretted anything that I’ve done. Now I’ve got a normal beating heart and can carry on with life. Things are good for me.’