Luke McCormick (soccer player, 1983)

Luke McCormick
Personnel
Surname	Luke Martin McCormick
birthday	August 15, 1983
place of birth	Coventry ,  England
position	goal
Juniors
Years	station
1999-2002	Plymouth Argyle
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2001-2008	Plymouth Argyle	138 (0)
2004	→  Boston United  (loan)	2 (0)
2012-2013	Truro City	10 (0)
2013	Oxford United	15 (0)
2013–	Plymouth Argyle	168 (0)
1 Only league games are given. As of October 9, 2017

Luke Martin McCormick (born August 15, 1983 in Coventry ) is an English football player . The goalkeeper made over 150 competitive appearances for Plymouth Argyle from 2000 to 2008 . In October 2008, he was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison for a drunk driving accident that resulted in the death of two children. He has been active again since the end of 2012.

Career

McCormick came to Plymouth Argyle in 1999 as a trainee and made his debut in the professional team on the last day of the 2000/01 season in the Football League Third Division . He signed his first professional contract a year later in the summer of 2002 and was a substitute goalkeeper behind Romain Larrieu in the 2002/03 season . McCormick experienced his breakthrough in the 2003/04 season, when he moved to the regular team after an injury to Larrieus and kept his place in goal even after his opponent had recovered. Plymouth rose at the end of the season as champions of the Second Division in the Football League Championship . McCormick set a new club record in the course of the season with a series of 624 minutes without conceding a goal and was named “Young Player of the Year” within the club.

The 2004/05 second division season under coach Bobby Williamson began McCormick as a goalkeeper, but lost his place after about a month to Larrieu. As a result, he was briefly loaned to the fourth division club Boston United as a substitute for the injured Nathan Abbey , before he ousted Larrieu in the goal of the Pilgrims again until the end of the season in spring 2005 . During the entire 2005/06 season , however, his French rival was preferred and McCormick only came to one season under coach Tony Pulis . With the commitment of Ian Holloway as the new coach for the following season, McCormick was once again preferred in a duel with his long-term rival Larrieu and played the following two seasons as a regular goalkeeper. His contract, which was extended at the end of the season, was terminated at the end of July 2008 because of the fatal traffic accident (see below).

Fatal traffic accident and prison sentence

On June 7, 2008 McCormick caused a fatal car accident on the M6 Motorway while driving back from the wedding of his former teammate David Norris . After only two hours of sleep and with an alcohol level that was more than double the legal limit, he collided with an oncoming vehicle. While McCormick was uninjured, two brothers died at the scene of the accident, aged ten and eight, and the father who was behind the wheel of the car suffered serious injuries and has been in a wheelchair ever since. Before the Crown Court in Stoke-on-Trent , McCormick was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison in October 2008 for negligent homicide through reckless driving and drinking under the influence . Early release is only possible after half of the prison sentence.

A few weeks after the conviction, David Norris caused a scandal when he crossed his wrists while celebrating a goal, which was understood as an expression of sympathy for McCormick. His detention conditions in Channings Wood , Denbury and the birth of his first child have been the subject of yellow press coverage .

Web links

• Luke McCormick in the soccerbase.com database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ pafc.co.uk: LUKE McCORMICK (May 4, 2010)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004 . Queen Anne Press, Harpenden 2003, ISBN 1-85291-651-6 , pp. 272 .
3. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2004/2005 . Queen Anne Press, Harpenden 2004, ISBN 1-85291-660-5 , pp. 258 .
4. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006 . Queen Anne Press, Harpenden 2005, ISBN 1-85291-662-1 , pp. 258 .
5. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2006-07 . Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh 2006, ISBN 1-84596-111-0 , pp. 258 .
6. ↑ bbc.co.uk: Plymouth end McCormick contract (July 22, 2008)
7. ↑ independent.co.uk: Seven years for death crash footballer (Oct. 6, 2008)
8. ↑ independent.co.uk: Norris fined for 'handcuff support of McCormick' (Nov. 11, 2008)
9. ↑ thesun.co.uk: Car killer goalie doing 'hard' time (Sep. 9, 2010)
10. ↑ thesun.co.uk: Baby for goalie who killed boys (May 5, 2009)