Albert Hill (8 March 1930 – 14 July 2017) was an English 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

wing-half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

Career

Born in

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

, London, Hill began his career at

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...

, where he signed a professional contract in May 1950. He failed to break into the first-team, and joined

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

club

on trial in August 1952. He signed permanently for a £300 fee by the end of September 1952. He made his debut on 11 April 1953 in Colchester's 3–1 win against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

. That was to be his only appearance of the season, and over the next four seasons played a role as a squad-player, unable to hold down a regular starting position. Hill handed in a transfer request at the end of the 1956–57 season in order to find a club closer to his London home. However, his final campaign with the club proved to be his most rewarding making 32 first-team appearances. After making 107 appearances and scoring three goals, he left Colchester in July 1958 to join

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock ...

. He signed for Hastings United in June 1959, and later played for Canterbury City before knee injuries caused him to end his playing career.

After football

After quitting football, Hill had jobs driving for

Schweppes Schweppes (, ) is a beverage brand that originated in the Republic of Geneva; it is made, bottled and distributed worldwide by multiple international conglomerates, depending on licensing and region, that manufacture and sell soft drinks. Schwep ...

, working for a paper bag manufacturer and later became a London

taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choi ...

driver. He died at the age of 87 on 14 July 2017.

Career statistics

References

External links

Bertie Hill Career Stats at Neil Brown's
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Bert 1930 births 2017 deaths Footballers from the London Borough of Newham People from West Ham English men's footballers Men's association football wing halves Chelsea F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Dartford F.C. players Hastings United F.C. (1948) players Canterbury City F.C. players English Football League players