Worst bone breaks in sport

Kevin Ware suffered a horrible leg break during the NCAA basketball tournament two years ago. Photo / Getty

WARNING - CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT

If you're squeamish when he comes to broken bones, you might want to find another story to read.

Following Ben Ross's horrific broken arm in last night's Footy Show, we look (through fingers over eyes) at the worst breaks on the sports field.

Patrick Battiston
The French defender was clear on goal in the 1982 semifinal against Germany, locked up at 1-1, when he attempted a shot past German keeper Harald Schumacher. Schumacher leaped in the air and took out the Frenchman in a big collision. Battiston fell to the ground unconscious, with a broken jaw, damaged vertebrae and three teeth knocked out, later slipping into a coma.

Battiston's teammate Michel Platini later said that he thought that Battiston was dead, because "he had no pulse and looked pale". The referee took no action against Schumacher who later was the hero with Germany winning in a penalty shoot-out.

Anderson Silva
The first time Silva faced Chris Weidman his streak of the longest title reign in UFC history was broken.

In the re-match he broke his left fibula and tibia. The break came in the second round when Silva attempted a leg strike, blocked by Weidman's leg. It seemed an innocuous strike but it is believed Silva first suffered a crack in his shin earlier in the fight.

Joe Theismann

The two-time Super Bowl champion's 10-year long NFL career had a gruesome ending when he was sacked by New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor during a nationally televised Monday Night Football game. Taylor drove straight into Theismann's lower right leg, fracturing both the tibia and the fibula. "The pain was unbelievable, it snapped like a breadstick," Theismann later said.

Kevin Ware

Louisville's Ware landed awkwardly while trying to block a shot during an Elite Eight game against Duke in 2013. What resulted was the horrific compound fracture to his right leg which protruded several inches out of his shin. Ware took the following season off before transferring to Georgia State University, leading the GSU to the NCAA tournament earlier this year.