Sean Highdale
Personal information
Date of birth (1991-03-04) 4 March 1991[1]
Place of birth Liverpool, England
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
2000–2008 Liverpool
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008–2011 Liverpool 0 (0)
2010 → Oldham Athletic (loan) 0 (0)
2011 → Newtown (loan) 4 (1)
2011 Vauxhall Motors 7 (0)
2011 Burscough
2013 Widnes Vikings
International career
England Under-16
2016 Great Britain Paralympic
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Sean Highdale (born 4 March 1991) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder.

Early career

Highdale joined Liverpool's youth team set up aged 9, and captained the Under-18 side, including being named in the team for the 2007 FA Youth Cup final games. After his last game for Liverpool's academy, Highdale was told he would be moving as a full-time professional to Melwood, the club's main training facility in April 2008.

Accident and subsequent football career

He was a passenger in a car crash in Liverpool which resulted in the death of two of his friends,[2][3] and left him with critical injuries which included a bleed on his brain, three of the four main ligaments in his right knee being snapped, a broken neck and ankle. It resulted in the removal of a kidney and being in a coma for five days.[4]

After intensive rehabilitation supported by Liverpool, he went on a youth loan to Oldham Athletic[5] before a further loan period with Welsh Premier League club Newtown at the beginning of 2011.[6] At the end of the season, he was released by Liverpool and in July 2011 joined Vauxhall Motors,[7] before moving to Burscough.[8]

In 2013, he was playing in the Liverpool County Premier League for Old Xaverians.[9] Later that season he was awarded a compensatory payout of millions of pounds, which recognised the potential earnings he could have earned in his football career.[10]

In August 2013 he registered as a player for North West Counties Football League club Widnes Vikings.[11]

Paralympian football

In 2016, he was named in the Great Britain team to compete in the football tournament at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Brazil,[12] eligible as a result of an acquired brain injury from the car accident in 2008.[13] He made his Paralympics debut for the team in a match against Brazil.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Athlete Profile: Sean Highdale". British Paralympic Association. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  2. ↑ "Young Liverpool FC star Sean Highdale critically ill after road crash". The Mirror. 8 April 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  3. ↑ "Former Liverpool FC starlet Sean Highdale: how brain injury destroyed my Anfield dreams". Liverpool Echo. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  4. ↑ "Rio 2016 Paralympics: Ex-Liverpool junior Sean Highdale is heading to Rio". BBC Sport. 2 September 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  5. ↑ "Dickov's delight at first impression". Oldham Chronicle. 12 July 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  6. ↑ "Football: Highdale snapped up by Robins". County Times. 27 January 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  7. ↑ "Football: Vauxhall Motors sign ex-Liverpool Youth skipper Sean Highdale". Chester Chronicle. 27 July 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  8. ↑ "Burscough add two to squad". Non-league Pitchero. October 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  9. ↑ "West Everton Xav's reclaim pole in race for Liverpool County title". Liverpool Echo. 20 April 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  10. ↑ "Liverpool star wins payout for lost career". Liverpool Echo. 25 May 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  11. ↑ "Player Movements This Week". North West Counties Football League. 30 August 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  12. ↑ "Great Britain names football 7 team for Rio". Official website of the Paralympic Movement. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  13. ↑ "Local Lads to take on the World at Rio Paralympics". Liverpool FA. 10 August 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  14. ↑ "Paralympics 2016: Great Britain football team beaten by Brazil on opening day". The Independent. 9 September 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
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