Luke Brooke-Smith's Road to Recovery After Injury

Luke Brooke-Smith has been here before.

Long before Portsmouth’s medical team rushed to his side and the green whistle dulled the pain, he was a nine-year-old BMX rider, clipped into his bike when his leg snapped in almost exactly the same way.

“He had almost exactly the same break during BMX training when he was 9 … and he was not racing anyone,” his mother, Clare Brooke-Smith, recalled. “It just came out of nowhere because he was clipped into the bike, he did a manoeuvre and then the bike went one way, he went the other, and it just cracked, moved his ankle and that was that.”

Back then, there was no club doctor, no medical cart. Just his dad, Phil, driving him from the track to the hospital. This time, in Portsmouth colours, everything was different.

On the pitch, he went down. Then the professionals took over.

“He was like, ‘I was on the ground and then there’s people around me and then they’re telling me to wiggle my toes, but I was on the green whistle and I was looking around like, wait, have I wiggled my toes?’” Clare said.

He was confused, numb, unable to feel much of anything. The family, watching from afar, could only rely on updates and trust the people around him. They were impressed.

Clare praised Portsmouth for how they handled the situation. “The manager spoke to him and gave him a call and the medic stayed with Phil and Luke at the hospital the whole time, so he said that was really nice and they just send a car to pick him up when they need to because obviously he’s not going to be able to drive.”

The timing could hardly have been crueller. The family had been split across continents for weeks. Clare and Luke’s sister Casey had been home for about three weeks, waiting for Phil to finally return.

“The irony of the whole thing was that we were just so ready to have Phil home,” Clare said. “So he said Luke’s all settled, all good, booked the ticket, yesterday the tickets to come back were booked and so he was coming back tomorrow.

“And then of course this happens and I said cancel the flight. It’s just going to be one of those things where we’re just going to have to wait it out and thankfully he’s British so he can stay as long as he wants to, no issues.”

The setback is serious, but in this family it’s not unfamiliar territory. When Luke broke his leg as a BMX rider, he came back in 68 days to race at the World BMX Championships. That number is now a benchmark.

Clare is convinced he’ll attack this recovery the same way he attacked every other goal he has set for himself.

She remembers a seven-year-old boy announcing to his family that he would go to the Olympics for BMX in 10 years. The plan changed, but the mindset didn’t.

At 14, the dream shifted from tracks to pitches.

“I remember him saying at 14 that he wanted to go into football because football’s a career move and he wanted to buy us a house,” Clare said. “He was literally crying and saying he is so upset at how much we had to sacrifice to get him to where he needed to be, because we used to go to the BMX World Champs every year and we’re not rich by any means.”

By then, he had already done almost everything a junior BMX rider could. Multiple national titles. Ranked No 2 junior in the world. A win at the USA BMX Grand Nationals. Offers came in to keep him on the bike, including money to stay in the sport.

He chose football instead, helped by guidance from former All White Ricki Herbert. The road turned from dirt tracks to academies.

There was a chance to go to Spain early. A club there wanted him for their academy, but he said no, preferring to stay closer to home in Cambridge.

“We met with Auckland FC and we met with Wellington Phoenix and the Phoenix were more established in where he would live, I think that was our biggest thing because he had just turned 16,” Clare said.

At Wellington Phoenix, he burst onto the scene, then hit the first lull. In his second season, minutes were harder to find. It stung.

Even so, he and his family saw value in the struggle. If he wanted a move to England one day, he’d need to know how to fight for a place.

That call eventually came from Portsmouth. Once they spoke, the path looked clear.

“It was very family orientated and they were really going to look after him and he wasn’t going to go on loan and he wasn’t going to be in an U20s team,” Clare said. “It just like seemed like a really good move. So we went over July 21 and he settled in really well.”

Offers from Spain and Italy were on the table, but the Championship club won out. A clear role. A senior environment. A promise of care. Luke committed for four years.

The injury hasn’t shaken that commitment. It hasn’t touched his international ambition either. He remains fixed on making the next World Cup with the All Whites.

“We’re a Christian family and people always say bad things happen, and I’m like yeah they do, but I’ve had lots of bad things happen in my life and so has Luke, but he is very much in the mindset of what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” Clare said.

She plans to be in England for Christmas. If his last recovery is any guide, she might not just be visiting a son in rehab. She might be watching a Portsmouth player back on the pitch, chasing down the future he promised his family all those years ago.