Westerhope FA Vase winner swaps football boots for firefighting equipment as he embarks on new career

A semi-professional footballer who won the FA Vase for a Northumberland club has hung up his boots to pursue a career as a firefighter.

Luke Carr started off at Newcastle United's Academy and has Gateshead, Newcastle Blue Star and Dunston on his CV. In 2016, he was on the Morpeth Town team which who won the FA Vase with a 4-1 drubbing of Hereford.

The 31-year-old has also played for the Holland Park Hawks in Australia in the Brisbane Premier League. But he is now set to start the next chapter of his career as a firefighter with County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS).

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Luke, who lives in Westerhope, was inspired to apply for the service by his stepdad, Warren Metcalfe, who is the crew manager at High Handenhold station.

The dad-of-one said: "I’m really proud of my football career, but I am so excited to begin this next chapter. It was seeing how proud he was to be a firefighter and hearing him talk about how much he enjoys the job was that made me want to go for it."

Luke started an intensive 14-week training course back in September and is due to "pass out" as a firefighter on Friday, December 6 in front of his family and friends. He is one of 10 new firefighter recruits who will start working at fire stations across County Durham and Darlington before being assigned a permanent watch and station.

He continued: "Every day is different and the shifts also enable you to spend more time with family. The training has been tough as it is a lot to take on mentally and physically, but I didn’t expect it to be easy and I am getting better every day."

And he had some words of advice for those who are considering becoming a firefighter. Luke finished: "Definitely apply for it and make sure you prepare properly.

"It is going to be a hard course, but it will all be worth it in the end. I had a good level of cardio and upper leg strength from my football background, but the training has still been hard graft!"