Abdulai Hindolo Bell-Baggie (born 28 April 1992) is a

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

an Association football, footballer who plays as a winger for club Gosport Borough. Born in

, Bell-Baggie represented both the England national under-16 football team, England under-16 and England under-17 national teams before winning his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for Sierra Leone in 2013. A former

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

player, he has played on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

for

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, and

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

and was briefly

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

ed to

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

and Hayes & Yeading United. He joined Salisbury City in January 2012, before switching to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

seven months later. After spending three years at Tranmere, he was released before joining

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

in March 2015 but failed to make an appearance for the club. He joined

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

in June 2015, and moved on to Poole Town in March 2016. He joined Weymouth in October 2017 and helped the club to win the Southern League Premier Division title in 2018–19. He signed with

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...

in June 2020 and moved on to

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the ...

12 months later. He signed with

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

in January 2022 and moved on to Gosport Borough five months later.

Club career

Early career

Bell-Baggie was born in

, and moved to England with his family in 1999, remaining in England with a foster family when his parents returned to Sierra Leone in 2005. He attended Hillside and Bulmershe College in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

as a youth, and became a part of the set-up at

at age nine. Though he spent some time at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future i ...

, he returned to Reading in 2007. He was awarded a club number in December 2009. He joined

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

on a one-month

in March 2010, making his professional debut as a substitute on 16 March 2010 in a 2–1 defeat at

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...

, replacing

Marcus Marshall Marcus Marshall (born 25 November 1978) is a former Champ Car driver from Australia. Biography He began racing in British Formula Three, where he was generally a running outside the top ten, but took a hard-fought win in a wet race. He contest ...

a few minutes before full-time. His first start came in a 3–0 defeat at

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

on 5 April, after this game the loan spell was extended until the end of the season. However, his twelfth and final match for the club was the most significant game of his season, as he replaced Kevin Ellison late into the play-off final defeat to

Dagenham and Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

on 30 May 2010. In August 2010 he was brought in by

Micky Adams Michael Richard Adams (born 8 November 1961) is an English former professional association football, footballer and football manager. As a player, he was a Full-back (football), full back, and made a total of 438 league appearances in a ninete ...

on a one-month loan to cover for

Lewis Haldane Lewis Oliver Haldane (born 13 March 1985) is a Welsh former under-21 international footballer who scored 75 goals in 414 league and cup games in a 14-year career. A winger, he was a youth player at Southampton and Trowbridge Town, before he ...

, who was recovering from illness. This move came despite an offer of another loan spell from Rotherham United, and talk of Aldershot expecting the winger to join them on loan. After one substitute appearances he stated his aim to win a place in the starting eleven, however, he finished his loan spell with only one start – in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

, and four substitute appearances to his name. At the end of November he joined

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

high-flyers

on loan, but only made one FA Cup appearance. At the end of the 2010–11 season Bell-Baggie was released by Reading. Abdulai Bell-Baggie 2013 IJA 01

In August 2011, Bell-Baggie signed a

with

to keep him at the

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club until January 2012. In December 2011, Bell-Baggie was informed his short-term contract would not be extended and he was released without making a single appearance. He signed with Conference club Hayes & Yeading United on 6 January, and played in the club's 3–1 defeat at

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

the next day. On 16 January his ten-day spell at the club came to an end when he was signed by Salisbury City

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Darrell Clarke Darrell James Clarke (born 16 December 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player who played in the English Football League. He is the manager of club Port Vale. A box-to-box midfielder, Clarke began his career with ...

Tranmere Rovers

In July 2012, he joined

on trial. Manager

Ronnie Moore Ronald David Moore (born 29 January 1953) is an English football manager and former player. He has taken charge of several clubs including Rotherham United, Tranmere Rovers and Hartlepool United. He played for many different clubs in a care ...

, who was also manager during the winger's time at Rotherham, was impressed enough to offer Bell-Baggie a one-year contract, which was duly signed. Having featured regularly for the club since his arrival, he signed a new contract on 7 March 2013, keeping him at Tranmere until 2015. He scored two goals in 34 appearances across the 2012–13 campaign. Bell-Baggie played 15 games at the start of the 2013–14 season, but did not make an appearance for Rovers after November as the club suffered

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

out of League One. He was named in the Football League team of the week for his performance in a 3–2 defeat at Accrington Stanley on 6 September 2014, having a bagged a brace in the second half. He was placed on the

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

list in January 2015 by new manager

, who had previously coached him at Port Vale, before having his contract cancelled by mutual consent a month later.

Non-League

In March 2015, Bell-Baggie joined Conference Premier club

on a deal until the end of the 2014–15 season. Rovers won

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

out of the play-offs, though Bell-Baggie never made an appearance for the club. He was released at the end of the season. In June 2015, Bell-Baggie signed for

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

side

, and was described by manager Neil Young as "an exciting and excellent" player. He was released by new "Hatters" manager

Jim Gannon James Paul Gannon (born 7 September 1968) is a professional football manager and former player who most recently was manager of Hyde United. He started and finished his career as a player in Ireland, but made most of his professional appear ...

in February after struggling with a series of niggling injuries. He signed with Poole Town in March 2016. He played four league games towards the end of the 2015–16 season as the "Dolphins" won promotion into the National League South as champions of the

Southern League Premier Division The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English foot ...

. He scored two goals in 35 league games in the 2016–17 campaign, however, Poole were barred from competing in the play-offs as Tatnam Ground did not meet National League standard regulations. He left the club on 10 October 2017, following the establishment of home grown talent Ollie Balmer in the first-team. On 28 October 2017, Bell-Baggie joined Weymouth of the Southern League Premier Division. He made his debut for

Mark Molesley Mark Clifford Molesley (born 11 March 1981) is an English association football, football manager and former professional player who is manager of Gosport Borough F.C., Gosport Borough. He played in the Football League for A.F.C. Bournemouth, Bo ...

's "Terras" later that day in a 4–1

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

defeat at

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

on 28 October. He ended the 2017–18 season with five goals in 30 league appearances at the

Bob Lucas Stadium The Bob Lucas Stadium (formerly named the Wessex Stadium) is a football stadium in Weymouth, England. It has been the home ground of Weymouth F.C. since 1987. It was formerly a greyhound racing and speedway stadium. Football The ground, which ...

, helping Weymouth to secure a place in the play-offs, where they were beaten 3–0 by King's Lynn Town at the semi-final stage. He featured 51 times in the 2018–19 season, scoring five goals, to help Weymouth to win promotion as champions of the Premier Division. He scored ten goals in 33 appearances in the 2019–20 National League South season, which was permanently suspended on 26 March due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in England The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to England with two cases among Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in York on 31 January 2020. The two main public bodies responsible for health in England are NHS England and Public ...

, with Weymouth in the play-offs in third-place. On 23 June 2020, Bell-Baggie signed for

of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

; manager Ben Strevens said that "He’s stood out on the occasions we’ve watched him. He carries the ball really well and has a really strong attacking threat. I’m really pleased to get it over the line so soon." He scored one goal in 20 league games across the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

campaign. At the end of the season, it was announced that Bell-Baggie's contract would not be being renewed and he would subsequently be released. In June 2021, Bell-Baggie joined

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

side

. He scored two goals in 16 games in the first half of the 2021–22 season. On 22 January 2022, Bell-Baggie joined Southern League Premier Division South side

Steve Claridge Stephen Edward Claridge (born 10 April 1966) is an English football pundit, coach and former professional player. He was a pundit for BBC Sport football shows including ''Football Focus'' and ''The Football League Show'', until 2014 when he beca ...

's "Whites" ended the 2021–22 season in 15th-place, with Bell-Baggie scoring one goal in 18 appearances. On 21 June 2022, he signed with Gosport Borough of the Southern League Premier Division South. He scored eight goals in forty appearances throughout the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

campaign, including a brace on his debut in a 3–2 home win over

Merthyr Town Merthyr Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Tref Merthyr) is a Welsh semi-professional association football, football club based in Merthyr Tydfil, currently playing in the , in the seventh tier of the English football league system. The ...

International career

Bell-Baggie turned out for England at both under-16 and under-17 levels. He lifted the

Victory Shield The Victory Shield is an annual football tournament competed for by the under-16 teams of Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The Victory Shield had traditionally been competed for by the four Home Nations, but the Football A ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

with the under-16s, Bell-Baggie starting in the 2–0 win over

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and the 2–1 win against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. In August 2008 he made two appearances for the under-17s, in a 2–1 defeat by

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and a 2–0 win over

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Bell-Baggie made his senior debut with

in a 1–0 defeat to Cape Verde national football team, Cape Verde at the

Estádio da Várzea Estádio da Várzea is a multi-purpose stadium in Praia, Cape Verde just west of the city center's plateau in the subdivision of Várzea and on Avenida Cidade de Lisboa on its east side. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stad ...

in a World Cup qualifier on 15 June 2013.

Style of play

manager

considered him to be an "impact player". He went on to say "he's got electric pace. He's brave and strong and has got a lot of goals for the Reserves and kids. He's two footed and can play on the left wing and gets into little pocket. He turns and twists and, even at his young age, he knows the game."

Personal life

In 2011, Bell-Baggie was living with his girlfriend, Natalie, sister of

Adam Lallana Adam David Lallana ( ; born 10 May 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for club Brighton & Hove Albion. Lallana began his youth career with AFC Bournemouth before transferring to Southampton in 200 ...

Career statistics

Club statistics

International statistics

Honours

England under-16s *

Weymouth * Southern League Premier Division: 2018–19

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell-Baggie, Abdulai 1992 births Living people English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Sierra Leonean men's footballers Sierra Leone men's international footballers Black British sportsmen Men's association football wingers Sierra Leonean expatriate men's footballers Sierra Leonean expatriate sportspeople in England Sierra Leonean emigrants to the United Kingdom Expatriate men's footballers in England Reading F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Hayes & Yeading United F.C. players Salisbury City F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Poole Town F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. players Havant & Waterlooville F.C. players Salisbury F.C. players Gosport Borough F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Southern Football League players Place of birth missing (living people) Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Naturalised association football players