Life Stories

Having started out as a professional footballer, Derek started his career in physio working in the Miners rehabilitation centre in the North East. He then took his first role in football at Fulham FC, even playing for the reserves occasionally. Derek was offered the chance to move back North by Jack Charlton and has been Head Physiotherapist at Newcastle United for an incredible 38 years! Derek ha...

John Hartley joined Derby County as Head Physiotherapist in December 2020. Hartley joined the Rams after almost nine years at Aston Villa. Hartley joined Villa in February 2012 from Warrington Wolves rugby league team and had been their first team physio from August 2017 until his departure to join Derby.

Matt has extensive experience at the highest level of Mens’ Professional Football. Previous roles include Head of Physiotherapy at Liverpool, Rangers and Barnsley FC and Mens’ Team Physiotherapist at the FA. Specialising in lower limb rehabilitation, Matt is passionate about human movement and it’s impact on injury and performance. His vision is to create an optimal team culture at R4P for staff a...

Dr Emma Rowbotham trained at St Andrews University between 1996 and 2000 and obtained a 1st class degree in Medical Science before moving to Emmanuel College, Cambridge University where she graduated in 2002. She then completed junior surgical rotations between Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh and Leeds and obtained FRCS membership in 2005 and entered Radiology training at the Leeds Academy in 1996. F...

Sarah is currently a clinical specialist Occupational Therapist in Group Rehabilitation at the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton. The service offers work focused rehabilitation, functional capacity assessments and workplace assessments to musculoskeletal patients. In 2016 Sarah established an agreement to offer these services to a large local employer in order to generate additional income...

Wayne's journey is a fascinating one, spanning three continents. He finished his career in the NBA as Director of player care at the San Antonio Spurs. Before this, he spent three seasons in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins as the sports performance director. Prior to joining Miami, he was the head of medical services for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 2007 to 2015. He also spent four years w...

Eoin started his career in the health industry in 1996, in Fitness and Leisure Management and went on to be part of the management team of Irelands largest health clubs with over 11,000 members. Understanding that everyone responds differently to exercise. Eoin began his studies in Physical Therapy, Corrective Exercise and Advanced Strength and Conditioning. Realising that in order to deliver a pr...

Born and raised in South Wales, Mike started a journey into endurance sports after completing his first marathon aged 17. Over the next 20 years, he traveled the world racing, training, coaching and treating athletes from novice to elite level preparing for a multitude of endurance endeavours. Mike completed a 17-year career as a Royal Air Force Physical Training Instructor and Exercise Rehabilita...

Gary trained at Guy’s Hospital School of Physiotherapy in July, 1986 and became a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. He joined Arsenal Football Club as the First Team Physiotherapist in September 1986. He remained at Arsenal Football Club for 22 years before he left for a full-time role at the Football Association in August 2008. In August 1996, Gary was named as the Lead Physiother...

Phil Taught PE for several years before re training as a physio in 1988 at the Queen Elizabeth School of Physiotherapy at Birmingham University. He has had a keen interest in health-related fitness since graduating with a Sports Science Degree in 1981 and has combined an interest in both areas by obtaining a Master’s Degree in Physiotherapy and Sports Injury in 1999. Phil has taken part in sport a...

Jack founded Chews Health in 2013 as a company for his clinical consultancy, offering second opinions to local sports clubs and teams whose therapists and coaches were struggling to mastermind the recovery of some of their key athletes. As his philosophy and methods spread across the Physio profession and MSK industry a consultancy network emerged and eventually Chews Health services were sought a...

Dr Cosgrave graduated Medicine from Queen’s University Belfast in 2004 and after working for a year in Sydney, undertook an MSc in Sports & Exercise Medicine at Trinity College Dublin. He trained as a consultant in Sports & Exercise Medicine in Liverpool. He has a wealth of experience in elite sport having worked for two seasons at Liverpool Football Club from 2011-2013. He also provided m...

Professor Graham N Smith is a Rehabilitation and Sports Injury Consultant, a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, Chairman of The Society of Sports Therapists (UK) and a member of the Executive Committee of BASEM and the FMA. Graham has an extensive background in the treatment, management and rehabilitation of injuries at all levels of the sporting spectrum. He is a Visiting Professor...

Professor Ribbans qualified from the Royal Free Hospital, London in 1980. As a junior doctor he trained in London before undertaking Fellowships in Sheffield and at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of both the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Edinburgh. He was a Consultant at the Royal Free from 1991-1996 and then at Northampton General Hospital 1996-2012. He is Professor of Sports Medic...

Stuart studied physiotherapy at Glasgow Caledonian University and after a couple of years in the NHS, moved to New Zealand to do a masters in manipulative physiotherapy at the University of Otago. Whilst on this course, Stuart met several influential people in the world of rugby and, after a couple of years in private practice, ended up working at Wellington Rugby. He stayed in New Zealand for six...

Grant is one of the most experienced figures in UK football performance, having worked in the industry for more than 30 years. He started his career in the NHS, before moving into football in 1987 as a physio for the Football Association at Lilleshall. Lengthy spells as Head of Medical at Glasgow Rangers and Middlesbrough followed, before he joined Manchester City in 2011 after the Abu Dhabi takeo...

Sean took the unusual route of qualifying as a physiotherapist before starting his career in professional football, representing Stockport County, Wolves, Tranmere and Rushden & Diamonds. Sean talked about some of the highlights and challenges of playing football, including scoring a goal in the League Cup Semi Final against the star studded Middlesbrough team. After finishing playing, he link...

James is the current Chief Medical Officer at Scottish Rugby. He initially trained as physiotherapist before going in to medicine. He has been to seven Rugby World Cups with the Scotland team, with his first tour being in 1991 in Canada. He told me about how privileged he felt to be working at this level of the sport and even more honoured he was when asked to work on the British & Irish Lions...

Prav Mathema is the National Medical Manager to the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) and an honorary lecturer on the Cardiff Metropolitan University MSc Sports & Exercise Medicine Programme. Prav qualified as a Physiotherapist in 1998 and after a short spell within the NHS he collectively spent over a decade as the Head of Medical Services at Queens Park Rangers Football Club, and London Wasps. In addi...

Ollie Coburn is a BASRaT Registered Sport Rehabilitator with an interest in clinical governance and healthcare policy. He is currently the Registrar for the British Association of Sport Rehabilitators who are the professional body and regulator for GSRs in the UK. His role involves overseeing the guidance and policies of the organisation and leading the Fitness to Practise function. In addition to...

Alan qualified from Glasgow Caledonian University in 1998 with a BSc (Hons) in physiotherapy. He initially worked for the NHS in both Glasgow and Northamptonshire until deciding to pursue work in the private sector and specifically in the sports medicine field. Over 5 year period he worked as a physiotherapist with Glasgow Rangers youth academy before joining St Mirren as the first-team physiother...

Ashleigh is lead Physiotherapist at British Equestrian and Athlete Health Consultant for English Institute of Sport. She was born in South Africa and played professional international hockey (with Helen Millson as her physio!) whilst working as a physiotherapist. Ashleigh moved to England 25 years ago and after working for Bupa, she joined the EIS and has worked in a number of sports including hoc...

Luke is an MSK Physiotherapist with 19 years of experience working full time in professional sport. Having qualified from Kings College London in 1996 he went on to work at The Royal London Hospital before joining Watford football club going on to lead the medical department. He obtained a Masters degree in Sports Physiotherapy from University College London before moving on to work as first team...

Chris is currently Chief Medical Officer to British Gymnastics and Senior Sports Physician at the English Institute of Sport. He told me about his experiences at Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and which moment from Rio 2016 was his most memorable in his career. He has worked 16 seasons in professional football in all leagues from the Conference to the Premier League. Alongside his work in elite sport, Chris...

Danny is a sports scientist, Strength & Conditioning coach and co founder at Boxing Science. He told me how he came to study sports science and why his interest in coaching came about. From working with amateur athletes, Danny saw an opportunity to offer specialist S&C to boxing athletes. His story is incredible in that he was charging £3.50 per athlete for his session and just a couple of...