Former Quakers physio Steve Collins retires after 30 years

Steve Collins hung up his ultrasound machine at Hurworth Physiotherapy yesterday having qualified in the early 1990s. He’s given so many massages over the decades that the fingers in his left hand are locking up.

“I was a semi-pro footballer in the Middlesbrough area when I was young and I broke my ankles, broke my leg with a compound fracture, had to have my arm pinned – I was on the Christmas card list of Middlesbrough general,” he says, “and that’s what got me interested in physiotherapy.”

He took an England national team of footballers with learning difficulties to their World Cup in 1998 and then joined Nigel Carnell’s practice at Feethams, the home of Darlington Football Club. For a couple of seasons, he was the Quakers’ physio, when David Hodgson and Jim Platt were the joint managers and at the start of George Reynolds’ chairmanship.

“Let’s just say there was never a dull moment,” he says.

He even worked on the legs of former England captain and Middlesbrough manager Bryan Robson before a friendly.

Nigel Carnell, of Hurworth Physiotherapy, with Steve Collins. Steve is retiring after more than 30 years

For nearly 20 years he’s been working with Mr Carnell at the practice opposite Hurworth church and now, aged 63, plans to spend more time with his wife, Julie, and their daughters and grandchildren in Acklam.

“I’ve had a great career, lots of laughs and met some lovely, brilliant people,” he says.

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