Brian Dempsie and a colleague, Ross French, were hurt when brickwork collapsed on them as they tried to enter the building in South Deans Park Avenue, Bothwell, in Lanarkshire, in February in 2008.

Mr Dempsie, 29, a former Motherwell player, and Mr French, 36, sued Strathclyde Fire Board following the incident.

A judge yesterday ruled that both men were entitled to damages with the larger amount going to then trainee firefighter Mr Dempsie, of Blackwood, in Lanarkshire, and his colleague receiving £113,000.

Mr Demspie suffered dislocated shoulders, a fractured knee cap, injured ankle and burns in the incident. Mr French, of Uddingston, Lanarkshire sustained serious leg injuries following the masonry collapse.

Lord Drummond Young said that the officer in charge, James Clark, ought to have realised that ordering firefighters into the area next to the garage, immediately under a gable wall, was "inherently hazardous".

"There was a significant likelihood that the wall would collapse," said the judge.

The judge said that when fire crews arrived at the scene and Mr Clark assessed the situation there was "a plainly foreseeable risk" from the gable wall.

He concluded that the accident could have been avoided and the incident commander had placed the two firefighters in a dangerous position.