Martin Sinclair (born 27 June 1986) is an English footballer who plays for the England CP team, as well as being a SaintsAbility development officer for Saints Foundation. Sinclair's catchphrase is, "It's about showcasing players ability, rather than their disability".

Early life

Martin Sinclair was born on 27 June 1986 in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, England. He is the brother of Bristol Rovers footballer

Scott Sinclair Scott Andrew Sinclair (born 25 March 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger for EFL League One club Bristol Rovers. He represented England at youth level, from the under-17s to the under-21s, and also played for Gre ...

, who represented Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and

Jake Sinclair Jake Tony Sinclair (born 29 November 1994) is an English footballer who has played professionally for Southampton and Hibernian. He is currently a striker for Mangotsfield United. Career Sinclair joined Southampton at the academy level at ...

, a member of the

Southampton F.C. Academy Southampton F.C. B team and Academy or Saints B and Academy is the youth organisation run by Southampton F.C. to encourage and develop young footballers in the south of England. Renowned players including Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, and Alan Shear ...

, who also played on loan at Hibernian. Sinclair was born with

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensa ...

but still had ambitions of playing football. As a teenager he fell off a slide, resulting in the ball and socket coming out of his hip; the injury was initially diagnosed as a damaged ligament, but when he went to hospital for an operation on his hand an x-ray revealed the real injury. He used a wheelchair for three years and had a hip replacement at the age of 21.

Career

Whilst his brother Scott was playing for

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

, Sinclair was introduced to manager Ian Holloway who offered him a role coaching in the football in the community programme. It was during this that he found out about Plymouth's disabled side. He competes in 7-a-side matches for players with cerebral palsy. He was part of the Great Britain teams that won a bronze medal at the 2010

Paralympic World Cup The Paralympic World Cup is an annual international multi-sport event for elite athletes with a disability, that has been hosted in Manchester, England, since 2005. It is organized by the British Paralympic Association (BPA) in coordination with t ...

and a silver medal at the 2012 event. In 2012, Sinclair was selected to represent

Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

as part of a twelve-player squad for the 7-a-side football event. Great Britain faced

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

in the preliminary stage of the competition, with all matches being held at the

Riverbank Arena The Riverbank Arena was a stadium in the Olympic Park, in Hackney Wick, London, United Kingdom, containing a water-based astroturf. History The Riverbank Arena was built with two venues for field-hockey competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics w ...

. Sinclair and Scott became the first brothers to represent Great Britain at a Paralympic and Olympic Games in the same year, as Scott appeared for the

Great Britain Olympic football team The Great Britain men's Olympic football team is the men's football team that represents the United Kingdom at the Summer Olympic Games (where it competes as Great Britain, currently branded Team GB). The team is organised by the English Footb ...

who reached the quarterfinals at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Martin Living people 1986 births Sportspeople from Bath, Somerset English footballers Paralympic 7-a-side footballers of Great Britain 7-a-side footballers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Sportspeople with cerebral palsy English Football Hall of Fame inductees Association footballers not categorized by position