The 31-year-old, a former Sutton United and Croydon Athletic player, was on the verge of signing Ryman Premier Division side Bromley FC four years ago when his was brutally beaten without warning.

Hughes (pictured) had his head viciously stamped on to such an extent that his skull caved in.

He was rushed to hospital and given just 48 hours to live but somehow managed to survive following four life-saving operations.

Hughes was told that he would never play football again but returned to action in 2009 with the aid of a protective head guard.

He now suffers from memory loss, obsessive compulsive disorder and fits but the story of his heroic return to football reached Jeff Davis, the Football Association's national manager for disability football, who invited him to an England training camp.

He was unable to make London 2012, after the British Paralympic Association (BPA) confirmed the 22 footballers who will compete in the five-a-side and seven-a-side tournaments at the Games this week which he was not among, but Davis confirmed he still has a future in the sport.


"Unfortunately, Rob has not been selected for the Paralympics but he will still be considered for England post-Games," Davis told insideworldparasport.

Hughes' mother Maggie, who now runs the 'Please Enjoy, Don't Destroy' campaign to help victims and their families deal with crime or serious injury abroad, added: "Robert has come such a long way.

"He had to have half his skull removed after the attack to try to save his life and then we had to wait to see if he would live or die.

"When he awoke from the coma he was paralysed down one side and couldn't speak, eat or even move.

"But his recovery tells a greater story to all victims of crime or serious injury and that is that there can be a goal at the end of the tunnel if we all work as a team."

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