Ashley Thomas Cain is a former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

Cain is an

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

reality TV personality

Early life

Ashley Thomas Cain was born on September 27, 1990, in

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Career

Coventry City

He made his professional debut for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

as a substitute on 13 April 2009 in a 0–0

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

draw with

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

. He signed a one-year professional contract with the club in July 2007. He made his first start for the club on 12 August 2009 in a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

defeat to

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

Luton Town

On 26 November 2009, Cain signed on a one-month loan with

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

side

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

, making just one substitute appearance in a 0–0 draw at Chester City, although his only appearance for the club would later be wiped from the record books after Chester folded later in the season and their record was expunged.

Oxford United

On 19 February 2010, Cain joined Conference league leaders

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

on a one-month loan after scoring a hat-trick in the first 45 minutes against them in a mid season friendly match. He then had a trial with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in April 2010.

Mansfield Town

At the end of the 2009–10 season Coventry City told Cain he was surplus to requirements and he was subsequently released. He signed for

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

on 26 July 2010. Halfway through the season Cain established his place in the team.

Tamworth

On 22 June 2011, Cain was picked up by

side Tamworth. He was joined at the club the same day by former

teammate Liam Francis, who signed from

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of the Red & Whites and Hill Top.

AFC Telford United

On 18 November 2011, Cain was loaned to

AFC Telford United AFC Telford United is a football club based in Telford, Shropshire, England. The club was formed in 2004 after the original Telford United, founded in 1872, folded due to financial problems. Currently members of the National League North, they ...

until 5 January 2012. In January 2012 his contract was cancelled by Tamworth and he joined Telford on a permanent basis. He was released by the club in May 2012.

CS Gaz Metan Mediaș

In June 2012, Cain signed for

CS Gaz Metan Mediaș Clubul Sportiv Gaz Metan Mediaș (), commonly known as Gaz Metan Mediaș or simply as Gaz Metan, was a Romanian professional football club based in Mediaș, Sibiu County. Founded in 1945 as ''Karres Mediaș'', the team spent most of its existe ...

after a successful trial period. He played in three trial games, scoring three goals and getting four assists. This attracted big name teams in the Romanian Liga 1 such as CFR 1907 Cluj. Gaz Metan quickly decided to negotiate a contract and take Cain on a pre-season tour. During his first game for them he suffered a complete rupture of his right Achilles tendon, which would keep him out for the rest of the season, so he returned to England to receive treatment and recover. Because of this injury, he had to leave the club.

Personal life

Cain's daughter, Azaylia Diamond Cain, died on 24 April 2021, at eight months old. She was diagnosed with an aggressive form of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

at eight weeks old. Prior to her death, Cain and his partner, Safiyya Vorajee, had raised more than £1.5m to fund for her specialist treatment in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Cain expressed grief over her death on social media. In May 2021, he and Vorajee announced that they were starting a charity in their daughter's name to fight childhood cancer.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cain, Ashley 1990 births Sportspeople from Nuneaton Living people Association football midfielders English footballers Coventry City F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Tamworth F.C. players AFC Telford United players Coventry Sphinx F.C. players Bedworth United F.C. players Barwell F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players English people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines descent The Challenge (TV series) contestants