They’ve overcome cancer, traffic accidents and life-changing injuries. Now, they’ve got World Cup glory within their sights. Meet England’s amputee football team
Monday 9 October 2017: Inside Istanbul’s Beşiktaş stadium, the rib-rattling, bell-whistling fervour of 42,000 Turkish football fans becomes a deafening crescendo. For Hertfordshire office worker Michael Masters, there’s only one word to describe the moment he walked into this lion’s den on standard-issue NHS crutches: “intimidating”. He has good reason to feel trepidation because, minutes later, Masters and his England teammates face-off against home team Turkey in the European Amputee Football Championships final. For a team that, as their manager relates, is more accustomed to playing in front of “one man and his dog”, it’s remarkable stuff. Even more impressive, many of the players had spent their weekends collecting donations outside their local supermarket to get there.
If you’re looking for the perfect personification of “inspiration”, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better example than the England team. The fortitude demonstrated by their personal journeys is staggering, many having lost limbs due to truly harrowing trauma including teenage cancer, footballing injuries and traffic accidents.
Written by Christian Koch
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/what-makes-a-man/2018/sep/26/englands-other-world-cup-heroes-playing-amputee-football-changed-my-life under the title “England’s other World Cup heroes: ‘Playing amputee football changed my life’”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
