MBE for Solihull footballer injured in crash

A 21-year-old who founded a football team for people with disabilities after his own career was ended by a car accident is among the youngest people on the New Year’s Honours list.

Charlie Fogarty, who is appointed an MBE, set up the Solihull Moors FC Open Age Disability team aged just 18.

At 15 he suffered severe brain damage after being hit by a car as he crossed the road.

He said he hoped the award would prove to others that “anything is possible”.

Following his accident in 2012, Charlie spent six months in a coma and a further 10 months in rehab learning to walk, talk, eat and drink again.

He has gone on to use the experience to become a public speaker alongside his work as a player-manager for the Solihull-based disability team he founded.

Charlie has also featured as a regular squad member for the Northern Ireland Cerebral Palsy team.

He told the BBC he hoped his MBE would help him achieve his long-term aim of inspiring “millions of people to be the best they can be”.

* The full New Year’s Honours list 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-years-honours-list-2018