Mark William Philo (5 October 1984 – 14 January 2006) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

professional

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 ...

. He spent his whole professional career at

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

making 19 first-team appearances. He died on 14 January 2006 following a road traffic collision. An inquiry into the crash, which also resulted in the death of the driver of another car, found that it was caused by Philo driving whilst intoxicated by alcohol.

Career

Philo was born in

Bracknell Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Bracknell Forest, Borough of Bracknell Forest. It l ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, and joined Wycombe at the age of 15, having been on the books of both West Ham United and Crystal Palace. He made his debut for the Wycombe first team in February 2004 under Tony Adams and signed a contract until the summer of 2005, which was extended to June 2007 by

John Gorman John Gorman may refer to: * John Gorman (director) (1884–1936), American movie director *John Gorman (entertainer) (born 1936), English vocalist and musician *John Gorman (politician) (1923–2014), Northern Ireland politician *John Gorman (footb ...

. He played a total of 19 matches for the club's first team. Philo suffered two broken ankles in consecutive years, the first being a broken right ankle and then a hairline fracture to his left leg in a pre-season game before the 2005/06 season.

Death

Philo died on 14 January 2006 after sustaining serious head injuries in a road traffic collision. A

Vauxhall Astra The Vauxhall Astra is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) that has been sold by Vauxhall since 1980. It is currently produced at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England. For its first two generations, the nameplate was applied to right-hand ...

being driven by Philo collided head on with a

Renault Mégane The Renault Mégane () is a small family car produced by the French car manufacturer Renault for model year 1996, and was the successor to the Renault 19. The Mégane has been offered in three- and five-door hatchback, saloon, coupé, converti ...

at the junction of Sandhurst Road and Finchampstead Road in

Wokingham Wokingham is a market town in Berkshire, England, west of London, southeast of Reading, north of Camberley and west of Bracknell. History Wokingham means 'Wocca's people's home'. Wocca was apparently a Saxon chieftain who may als ...

, at about 01:20. The driver of the Megane, 58-year-old Patricia Gammon, was declared dead at the scene. Philo was taken to Royal Berkshire Hospital in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, but died from his injuries later that day. Wycombe manager John Gorman paid tribute to him by saying, "He was a fantastic kid. He lived for football and always had a smile on his face." The Wycombe players held up a banner for Philo after their League Cup game against Chelsea at

Adams Park Adams Park is an association football stadium in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. Built in 1990, it is the home ground of the local Wycombe Wanderers in League One. It was also leased from 2002 to 2014 to the rugby union club London Was ...

Inquiry

Police investigations revealed that Philo was significantly over the drink-drive limit at the time of the accident. He had been drinking with two friends in the Golden Retriever pub in Wokingham, from 20:30 until closing time. Philo and his friends then drove off to look for another bar and ended up at The Gig House, where they stayed drinking for another hour. It was estimated that by the time the group left that venue, Philo had consumed six or seven pints of lager. According to an eyewitness, Philo was travelling above the speed limit when he veered onto the wrong side of the road and into Gammon's Megane and then a telegraph pole, where he suffered horrific injuries resulting in his death 15 hours later. Gammon, a mother of two, was killed instantly. PC Andrew Bryant, the collision investigation officer, confirmed that Philo's car was on the wrong side of the road when the craash happened. He said: "The blame for this collision appears to lie with the driver of the Vauxhall Astra. Excess alcohol and driving over the centre of the road were contributing factors. As soon as you exceed the alcohol limit your ability to drive is significantly impaired."

References

External links

*
Obituary and gallery of Mark Philo's Wycombe career
{{DEFAULTSORT:Philo, Mark 1984 births 2006 deaths People from Bracknell English footballers Association football midfielders Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players English Football League players Road incident deaths in England