Former Pompey and Hawks physio Phil Ashwell on a mission to improve medical care standards in Wessex League

Phil Ashwell is determined to improve their standards of medical care in the Wessex League next season.
Flashback - Phil Ashwell gives treatment to Hawks player Chris Ferrett in 2003. Pic: Jon Brady.Flashback - Phil Ashwell gives treatment to Hawks player Chris Ferrett in 2003. Pic: Jon Brady.
Flashback - Phil Ashwell gives treatment to Hawks player Chris Ferrett in 2003. Pic: Jon Brady.

The former Pompey and Hawks physio is back in the game after a year’s absence due to moving to London to work at the West London University in Brentford.

He has been appointed head physio at Baffins Milton Rovers - whose boss Shaun Wilkinson knows Ashwell well from their time together at Westleigh Park - and will be providing weekend matchday help to youngster Josh Lamb.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Lamb will carry on attending pitchside injuries, but Ashwell - whose work rules him out of midweek matches - will be on hand to pass on his knowledge and experience built up over three decades and over 2,000 matches.

Phil Ashwell has joined Baffins Milton Rovers. Pic: Dave HainesPhil Ashwell has joined Baffins Milton Rovers. Pic: Dave Haines
Phil Ashwell has joined Baffins Milton Rovers. Pic: Dave Haines

‘I want to bring an organisation, an approach, to medical care that the Wessex League has probably not seen before,’ explained Ashwell.

‘I will be talking to both physios before the game and telling them what to do in the event of a major injury.

‘If that happens, then everyone will know what to do rather than rushing around like headless chickens.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘I have always prepared for the worst, because if you do the little things won’t worry you.

‘Hopefully when I do this word will reverberate around the league and standards will rise across the level. If that happens, I will have done my job.’

He added: ‘It will be good for Josh to be able to milk my experience. You can’t learn experience, you have to get it.

‘We will be preparing for certain scenarios during the week, which if they happen on matchdays he will know what to do. He will be calm, because we’ve practised it, there won’t be any chaos.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘Baffins have asked me what equipment I need and they are getting it all. They are spending a lot of time, effort and money to get things right

Having spent 21 years with Hawks, Ashwell obviously has many stories to tell.

But the one that really sticks in his mind didn’t take place on a pitch - instead it took place in the car park at Westleigh Park.

It occurred during the half-time interval of Hawks’ play-off semi-final against Boreham Wood in 2015 when chairman Derek Pope suffered a cardiac arrest.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘Derek was slumped in his car, he was half in and half out,’ recalled Ashwell. ‘I got a defibrillator and brought him back. Myself and the ambulance crew were with him for 40 minutes. He was conscious, but I wouldn’t say he was with it.

‘He arrested twice more in the ambulance and that evening he had five stents fitted that evening.’

A stent is tiny wire mesh tube that is inserted into a narrowed or blocked coronary artery.

‘You don’t normally have that many stents fitted at one time,’ Ashwell continued. ‘Looking back, it was scary.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘I was told that if Derek had been at home that night, I obviously wouldn’t have been there and he might have gone to bed thinking he had indigestion. If that had happened he would have died - the consultant was very clear on that.

‘Derek was very lucky to have been in the crowd that night.’

Regarding player injuries, Ashwell said: ‘There’s been some horrendous head injuries.

‘Scott Jones suffered a nasty one against Salisbury, he was cleaned out by the keeper - nothing malicious. He was out cold for eight or 10 minutes and that was a worry as you don’t know what’s going on.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘Bobby Hopkinson suffered a dislocated and fractured ankle, that was horrendous.

‘I also remember Shaun Wilkinson being on the end of a malicious tackle at Bishop’s Stortford, that was an obscene challenge - it virtually finished Shaun off.’

Ashwell joined Hawks around the time Havant Town and Waterlooville merged to form a new club in the late 90s.

Billy Gilbert was the club’s first manager, and he asked Ashwell to join him ahead of the 1998-99 season.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ashwell, who had been helping Waterlooville out part-time while ex-Fratton Park colleague Gilbert was player-boss, promptly left the Blues after 10 years service to drop down into the non-league scene.

He stayed with Hawks until a new job in London forced him to leave in April of last year.

‘I’ve got great memories,’ he said. ‘The Liverpool trip will never go away, and there were promotions and many cup finals, the Hampshire Cup finals.

‘I made so many friends - Derek, Trevor (Brock), the managers - Bradders (Lee Bradbury) was an outstanding manager, Galey (Shaun Gale), they’re all friends now.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘The supporters were unbelievable, and the players all became friends. I’m still in contact with people like Danny Blanchett, Ben Price, Craig Anstey, Gary Connolly.

‘Getting out of the Southern League (in 2017) was a big effort, and to go up again the season after was extraordinary.

‘It was an experience in the National prem, travelling all over the country. We just didn’t quite make the grade, unfortunately.

‘But I truly wish them all the best, and hopefully they can get back to where I feel they should be.’