List of Bristol Rovers F.C. players

Bristol Rovers record scorer, Geoff Bradford, who scored 355 goals for the club, 242 of which were in the Football League.

For a list of all Bristol Rovers F.C. players with a Wikipedia article, see Category:Bristol Rovers F.C. players.

For the current Bristol Rovers squad, see Bristol Rovers F.C.#Current squad.

Bristol Rovers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Bristol, who play in Football League One, the Third tier of the English football league system, as of the 2016–17 season. The club was formed in 1883 under the name Black Arabs F.C.^[1] playing their home games at Purdown in Bristol,^[2] but they used the name for only a single season, becoming Eastville Rovers^[1] and moving to a site known as Three Acres in 1884. Eastville Rovers were somewhat nomadic, moving home in 1891 to the Schoolmaster's Cricket Ground, in 1892 to Durdham Down, and in 1894 to Ridgeway, before finally settling at Eastville Stadium and changing their name to Bristol Eastville Rovers in 1897.^[2] Two years later they adopted their current name of Bristol Rovers when they became founder members of the Southern League.^[1] They remained at Eastville Stadium for 99 years, before leaving in 1986 when financial pressures meant that they could no longer afford to pay the rent, whereupon they moved to Bath City's Twerton Park, a move that saved the club £30,000 a year.^[3] After playing for ten years in Bath, the club returned to Bristol in 1997 when they agreed to share Bristol Rugby's Memorial Stadium.^[4] Since joining The Football League in 1920, when the top division of the Southern League effectively became the Football League Third Division, Rovers have spent most of their time in the second and third tiers of the English football league system; the team has never played in the top flight and spent six years, 2001 to 2007, in the fourth tier.^[5][6]

In the club's early history the appearance record was held by goalkeeper Arthur Cartlidge,^[7] who played in 258 Southern League games between 1901 and 1909.^[8] His record stood until it was broken by another goalkeeper, Jesse Whatley, who played 14 times in the Southern League and a further 372 in The Football League, making a total of 386 overall.^[9] Following the Second World War the Bristol Rovers board introduced a no-buy/no-sell policy, which remained in force until the abolition of the maximum wage in football in 1961; as a result some players in that era had a high number of appearances for the club.^[10] Eight of the top nine most-used players played during this time, each making over 400 appearances. These eight were Bobby Jones (421 appearances), Alfie Biggs (424), Ray Warren (450), Harold Jarman (452), George Petherbridge (457), Geoff Bradford (462), Jack Pitt (466), and Harry Bamford (486).^[11] The club's all-time leading appearance maker, Stuart Taylor, played in 546 League games between 1965 and 1980.^[12] The club's highest scorer by a wide margin is Geoff Bradford, who scored 242 times in The Football League,^[13] exceeding the next-highest scorer Alfie Biggs by 64 goals.^[14]

Players

Rovers' second highest appearance maker, defender Harry Bamford who played for the club between 1946 and 1958.

Forward Alfie Biggs made 424 appearances for Rovers in two spells between 1953 and 1961 and again between 1962 and 1968. With 178 goals, he is the club's second highest goalscorer.

Ian Holloway, who played 397 league games in three spells with the club.

Stuart Campbell made 291 appearances between 2004 and 2011 and is currently the leading appearance maker of the 3rd millennium.

Lee Brown is, as of 8 May 2016, the leading appearance maker of the current Bristol Rovers squad with 211 appearances.

England international Gary Mabbutt, who played 131 league games between 1977 and 1982.

Tony Pulis made 130 Rovers appearances in two spells from 1975 to 1981 and 1982 to 1984.

Rovers' most capped player Vitālijs Astafjevs, who played 167 times for Latvia.

The list of players below includes all team members who have played in at least 100 professional league games for Bristol Rovers, which includes games played in the Southern League (1899–1920), Football League (1920–2014 and 2015–) and Football Conference (2014–15), and also includes substitute appearances. Statistics are correct as of 8 May 2016

Position key: GK – Goalkeeper; DF – Defender; MF – Midfielder; FW – Forward

  † Current Bristol Rovers player, as at 22 June 2016

  ‡ Capped at full international level^[a]

Table of players, including nationality, playing position and club statistics

Player	Nationality[b]	Pos[c]	Club career	Apps[d]	Goals[e]	Ref[f]
Agogo, JuniorJunior Agogo	Ghana ‡	FW	2003–2006	126	41	[15]
Aitken, PeterPeter Aitken	Wales	MF	1972–1980	234	3
Alexander, IanIan Alexander	Scotland	DF	1986–1994	291	6
Anthony, ByronByron Anthony	Wales	DF	2006–2012	163	7	[16]
Appleby, BenBen Appleby	England	MF	1903–1908	180	9
Archer, LeeLee Archer	England	MF	1991–1997	126	13
Armitage, HarryHarry Armitage	England	DF	1922–1926	122	0
Astafjevs, VitālijsVitālijs Astafjevs	Latvia ‡	MF	2000–2003	110	16
Bamford, HarryHarry Bamford	England	DF	1946–1958	486	5
Bannister, BruceBruce Bannister	England	FW	1971–1977	206	80
Barrett, MikeMike Barrett	England	MF	1979–1984	128	18
Bater, PhilPhil Bater	Wales	DF	1974–1981 1983–1986	310	3
Beadle, PeterPeter Beadle	England	FW	1995–1998	109	39
Bennett, BertBert Bennett	England	DF	1911–1915	101	0
Bennett, FredFred Bennett	England	DF	1925–1930	129	2
Biggs, AlfieAlfie Biggs	England	FW	1953–1961 1962–1968	424	178
Bradford, GeoffGeoff Bradford	England ‡	FW	1949–1964	462	242
Brogan, JamesJames Brogan	Scotland	FW	1910–1915	106	24
Brown, JohnJohn Brown	England	FW	1963–1968	156	32
Brown, LeeLee Brown †	England	DF	2011–	211	20	[17]
Browning, MarcusMarcus Browning	Wales ‡	MF	1989–1997	174	11
Bush, BryanBryan Bush	England	MF/FW	1947–1955	113	19
Campbell, StuartStuart Campbell	Scotland	MF	2004–2011	291	3	[18]
Carruthers, ChrisChris Carruthers	England	DF	2005 (loan) 2005–2008	100	1	[19]
Cartlidge, ArthurArthur Cartlidge	England	GK	1901–1909	258	0
Challis, TrevorTrevor Challis	England	DF	1998–2003	146	1
Channing, JustinJustin Channing	England	MF	1992–1996	130	10
Clark, BillyBilly Clark	Scotland	FW	1904–1908	133	35
Clark, BillyBilly Clark	England	DF	1987–1997	248	12
Coles, DannyDanny Coles	England	DF	2007–2011	102	3	[20]
Collett, AndyAndy Collett	England	GK	1994–1999	107	0
Corbett, FredFred Corbett	England	FW	1901–1903 1904–1905 1908–1911	139	52
Crompton, EllisEllis Crompton	England	FW	1913–1921	150	36
Cureton, JamieJamie Cureton	England	FW	1996–2000	174	72
Davis, JoeJoe Davis	England	DF	1960–1967	211	4
Day, GrahamGraham Day	England	DF	1973–1979	130	1
Disley, CraigCraig Disley	England	MF	2004–2009	203	25	[21]
Dix, RonnieRonnie Dix	England ‡	FW	1928–1932	100	33
Donald, AlecAlec Donald	Scotland	DF	1932–1936	136	0
Dunn, HughieHughie Dunn	Scotland	DF	1901–1906	155	1
Eadie, JimJim Eadie	Scotland	GK	1973–1977	183	0
Ellington, NathanNathan Ellington	England	FW	1999–2002	116	35
Elliott, SteveSteve Elliott	England	DF	2004–2010	218	17	[22]
Fearnley, GordonGordon Fearnley	England	FW	1970–1977	120	21
Foster, SteveSteve Foster	England	DF	1997–2002	197	7
Fox, GeoffGeoff Fox	England	DF	1947–1955	276	2
Graydon, RayRay Graydon	England	MF	1965–1971	133	33
Griffiths, ArthurArthur Griffiths	England	DF	1897–1904	105	1
Gurney, AndyAndy Gurney	England	DF	1992–1997	108	9
Haldane, LewisLewis Haldane	Wales	MF/FW	2002–2010	147	15	[23]
Hale, DenzilDenzil Hale	England	MF/FW	1952–1959	120	12
Hall, BernardBernard Hall	England	GK	1959–1967	163	0
Hamilton, IanIan Hamilton	England	FW	1958–1968	149	60
Harrison, EllisEllis Harrison †	Wales	MF/FW	2011–	104	24	[24]
Harvie, DavidDavid Harvie	Scotland	DF	1910–1920	219	1
Haydon, JimmyJimmy Haydon	England	DF	1921–1931	290	5
Hillard, DougDoug Hillard	England	DF	1957–1968	318	12
Hinton, CraigCraig Hinton	England	DF	2004–2009	153	3	[25]
Hodges, LenLen Hodges	England	FW	1946–1950	118	20
Holloway, IanIan Holloway	England	MF	1981–1985 1987–1991 1996–1999	397	42
Hooper, PeterPeter Hooper	Kenya ‡	FW	1953–1962	297	101
Hoyle, BertBert Hoyle	England	GK	1950–1953	104	0
Hughes, JeffJeff Hughes	Northern Ireland ‡	MF	2008–2011	129	28	[26]
Jarman, HaroldHarold Jarman	England	MF	1959–1973	452	127
Jones, BobbyBobby Jones	England	FW	1956–1966 1967–1973	421	101
Jones, GlynGlyn Jones	Wales	DF	1962–1966	153	0
Jones, VaughanVaughan Jones	Wales	DF	1976–1982 1984 (loan) 1985–1993	381	12
Jones, WayneWayne Jones	Wales ‡	MF	1966–1972	224	28
Kuffour, JoJo Kuffour	Ghana	FW	2008–2012	130	32	[27]
Lambden, VicVic Lambden	England	FW	1945–1955	268	117
Lambert, RickieRickie Lambert	England ‡	FW	2006–2009	128	51	[28]
Lescott, AaronAaron Lescott	England	DF	2004 (loan) 2004–2010	207	5	[29]
Lines, ChrisChris Lines †	England	MF	2004–2011 2015 (loan) 2015–	209	21	[30]
Lockyer, TomTom Lockyer †	Wales	DF	2012–	132	2	[31]
Lofthouse, JamesJames Lofthouse	England	FW	1923–1926	105	15
Mabbutt, GaryGary Mabbutt	England ‡	DF	1977–1982	131	10
Mabbutt, RayRay Mabbutt	England	MF	1956–1969	395	27
Martyn, NigelNigel Martyn	England ‡	GK	1987–1989	101	0
McArthur, WallyWally McArthur	England	MF	1933–1950	261	14
McCaffrey, AidanAidan McCaffrey	England	DF	1980–1985	184	11
McChrystal, MarkMark McChrystal †	Northern Ireland	DF	2013–	110	0	[32]
McLean, JockJock McLean	Scotland	MF	1933–1938	134	1
McNestry, GeorgeGeorge McNestry	England	FW	1932–1935	113	42
Mehew, DavidDavid Mehew	England	MF	1985–1994	222	63
Meyer, BarrieBarrie Meyer	England	FW	1953–1958	139	60
Mildenhall, SteveSteve Mildenhall †	England	GK	2013 (loan) 2013–	123	0	[33]
Miller, PaulPaul Miller	England	FW	1994–1997	110	20
Morgan, JerryJerry Morgan	England	FW	1920–1925	114	25
Morgan, JimmyJimmy Morgan	England	FW	1946–1952	104	24
Munro, AlexAlex Munro	Scotland	DF/MF/FW	1962–1971	169	11
Nicholls, JoeJoe Nicholls	England	GK	1936–1939	112	0
O'Mahoney, MattMatt O'Mahoney	Ireland ‡[g]	DF	1936–1939	101	6
Oldfield, TerryTerry Oldfield	England	MF/FW	1958–1966	132	11
Palmer, BillyBilly Palmer	England	FW	1912–1913 1919–1922	102	14
Parkes, TomTom Parkes	England	DF	2012 (loan) 2012–2016	175	7	[34]
Parkin, BrianBrian Parkin	England	GK	1989–1996 1999–2000	246	0
Parkin, TimTim Parkin	England	DF	1981–1986	206	12
Parsons, LindsayLindsay Parsons	England	DF	1963–1977	360	0
Penrice, GaryGary Penrice	England	MF/FW	1983–1989 1997–2002	257	60
Peplow, BillyBilly Peplow	England	FW	1908–1915	216	42
Petherbridge, GeorgeGeorge Petherbridge	England	FW	1945–1962	457	85
Phillips, SteveSteve Phillips	England	GK	2006–2010	136	0	[35]
Pickering, BillBill Pickering	England	DF	1931–1937	215	1
Pitt, JackJack Pitt	England	MF	1946–1960	466	16
Pounder, TonyTony Pounder	England	MF	1990–1994	113	10
Prince, FrankieFrankie Prince	Wales	MF	1967–1980	362	22
Pritchard, DavidDavid Pritchard	England	DF	1994–2001	163	1
Pudan, DickDick Pudan	England	DF	1902–1907	116	0
Pulis, TonyTony Pulis	Wales	DF/MF	1975–1981 1982–1984	130	5
Purnell, PhilPhil Purnell	England	MF	1985–1992	153	22
Pyle, DavidDavid Pyle	England	DF	1955–1962	139	0
Radford, HowardHoward Radford	Wales	GK	1951–1962	245	0
Randall, PaulPaul Randall	England	FW	1977–1978 1981–1986	240	94
Reece, AndyAndy Reece	England	MF	1987–1993	239	17
Richards, EliotEliot Richards	Wales	MF/FW	2009–2014	120	15	[36][37]
Roberts, PhilPhil Roberts	Wales ‡	DF/MF	1968–1973	175	6
Roberts, ThomasThomas Roberts	England	MF/FW	1925–1930	120	6
Roney, PeterPeter Roney	Scotland	GK	1909–1915	178	1
Roost, BillBill Roost	England	FW	1948–1957	178	49
Sampson, PeterPeter Sampson	England	MF	1948–1961	340	4
Saunders, CarlCarl Saunders	England	FW	1990–1993	142	42
Shaw, BillBill Shaw	Scotland	MF	1909–1912	103	6
Sheppard, DickDick Sheppard	England	GK	1969–1975	151	0
Sims, StephenStephen Sims	England	DF	1919–1922 1926–1927	111	18
Skinner, JustinJustin Skinner	England	MF	1991–1998	187	11
Slatter, NeilNeil Slatter	Wales ‡	DF	1980–1985	148	4
Smart, JackJack Smart	England	MF	1905–1910	105	3
Smith, MichaelMichael Smith	Northern Ireland ‡	DF	2011–2014	101	1	[38]
Staniforth, DavidDavid Staniforth	England	FW	1974–1979	153	32
Stanton, TomTom Stanton	Scotland	DF/MF	1968–1976	172	7
Stephens, ArchieArchie Stephens	England	FW	1981–1985	127	40
Stephens, KennyKenny Stephens	England	MF	1970–1977	223	11
Sterling, WorrellWorrell Sterling	England	MF	1993–1996	119	6
Stewart, MarcusMarcus Stewart	England	FW	1991–1996	171	57
Stone, DavidDavid Stone	England	DF	1960–1968	148	6
Sykes, NormanNorman Sykes	England	MF	1952–1964	214	5
Tanner, NickNick Tanner	England	DF	1985–1988	107	3
Taylor, StuartStuart Taylor	England	DF	1965–1980	546	28
Thomas, MartinMartin Thomas	Wales ‡	GK	1977–1983	162	0
Thomson, AndyAndy Thomson	England	DF	1999–2002	127	6
Tillson, AndyAndy Tillson	England	DF	1992–2000	253	11
Twentyman, GeoffGeoff Twentyman	England	DF	1986–1993	252	6
Walker, BobbieBobbie Walker	England	MF	1912–1915	107	12
Walker, RichardRichard Walker	England	FW	2004–2009	143	46	[39]
Walter, JoeJoe Walter	England	MF	1919–1922 1928–1929	124	9
Warboys, AlanAlan Warboys	England	FW	1973–1977	144	53
Ward, DaiDai Ward	Wales ‡	FW	1954–1961	175	90
Warren, RayRay Warren	England	MF	1936–1956	450	28
Watkins, BarryBarry Watkins	Wales	DF/FW	1945–1957	115	7
Watling, JosserJosser Watling	England	DF/FW	1947–1963	323	19
Weare, ArthurArthur Weare	Wales	GK	1945–1951	141	0
Whatley, JesseJesse Whatley	England	GK	1919–1930	386	0
Whatmore, ErnieErnie Whatmore	England	FW	1923–1928	134	40
White, DevonDevon White	England	FW	1987–1992	202	52
White, SteveSteve White	England	FW	1977–1979 1983–1986	150	44
Williams, BrianBrian Williams	England	DF	1981–1985	163	20
Williams, DavidDavid Williams	Wales ‡	MF	1975–1985	352	66
Williams, GeraintGeraint Williams	Wales ‡	MF	1980–1985	141	8
Williams, LouisLouis Williams	England	MF	1909–1912	106	1
Yates, SteveSteve Yates	England	DF	1986–1993	197	0

Footnotes

• ^a Unless otherwise stated, all international caps are taken from Byrne & Jay (2003).^[40]
• ^b A player's nationality is defined as the country they have represented at the international level if they have done so; otherwise it is their country of birth.
• ^c Playing positions are taken from Byrne & Jay (2003) unless otherwise stated.
• ^d Number of league appearances for Bristol Rovers
• ^e Number of league goals scored for Bristol Rovers
• ^f Unless otherwise stated, player statistics are taken from Byrne & Jay (2003).^[41]
• ^g Matt O'Mahoney was a dual Irish international, having played for both the FAI and IFA national teams.

References

Bibliography

• Byrne, Stephen; Jay, Mike (2003). Bristol Rovers Football Club: The Definitive History 1883–2003. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7524-2717-1. 
• Giles, Edward (2007). Bristol Rovers, The Bert Tann Era: A Personal Memoir. Southend-on-Sea: Desert Island Books. ISBN 978-1-905328-37-6. 
• Jay, Mike; Byrne, Stephen (1994). Pirates in Profile: A Who's Who of Bristol Rovers Players. Bristol: Potten, Baber & Murray. ISBN 978-0-9524835-0-2. 
• Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (2007). Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2007–2008. London: Headline Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-7553-1664-9. 
• Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (2009). Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2009–2010. London: Headline Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-7553-1948-0.