The Football Association (FA) has announced that Dean Ashton, a former professional football player for the West Ham United and England, has been granted personal injury compensation after being force retired at the age of 26. This has both been decided upon mutually by the parties involved and their insurers outside of court. FA added, “It is a term of the settlement that no further statement will be made by any of the parties.” Exact amount of the compensation was not revealed.
The early demise of his career stemmed from a training incident wherein he has failed to recover from his injury. The highly acclaimed centre forward first suffered damage to his ankle that was sustained while preparing for a match against Greece in the year 2006. During the incident, Ashton was tackled by Shaun Wright-Phillips, a teammate of his, after which he had undergone surgery in an attempt to allow him to return to tip top shape. Failing in this, he was only limited to play one more game two years later in 2008 for England up against Trinidad and Tobago prior to being deemed incapacitated and therefore advised to give up playing football altogether.
The FA, founded in 1863, regulates all aspects of the game of football in England.