Bernard Raymond E. Hall (born 8 July 1942) is a former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for

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 ...

. Hall was born in Bath, and played for Twerton Youth Club before joining Bristol Rovers as a junior in 1958. A year later he turned professional at the age of seventeen, but it was a further three and a half years before he finally made his League debut, on 20 April 1962 against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

. He finally established himself as first choice between the sticks after the then incumbent 'keeper

Esmond Million Esmond Million (born 15 March 1938) is a former football goalkeeper. Playing career Million played for Middlesbrough from 1956 to 1962. He joined Bristol Rovers in 1962. In April 1963, he took a £300 bribe to throw a match. The ploy failed an ...

received a lifetime ban from football in 1963 for accepting a bribe to throw a game against Bradford Park Avenue. Following the Million scandal, Hall then played in Rovers' next 134 consecutive games in all competitions. In total he played 163 League games for Rovers before having his career prematurely ended on 31 December 1966 at the age of 24. On that day he challenged

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

forward John O'Rourke for the ball, but the pair collided so severely that it knocked Hall out and left him in a coma in

Frenchay Hospital Frenchay Hospital was a large hospital situated in Frenchay, South Gloucestershire, on the north east outskirts of Bristol, England, which is now closed. In 2014, it contracted to a few brain and head injuries services. It was managed by North B ...

for sixteen days. Although he recovered from this incident sufficiently to live a normal life, he was unable to resume his football career. He later took as job as the groundsman of the Imperial Sports Ground in Knowle, Bristol.

Career stats

The table below shows Bernard Hall's Football League record for the duration of his professional career.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Bernard 1942 births Living people Footballers from Bath, Somerset English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers English Football League players Bristol Rovers F.C. players