Gary Robert Locke (born 12 July 1954) is an English former

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 le ...

born in Willesden,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, who played 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 ...

for Chelsea and Crystal Palace, and in the

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

for Halmstads BK. Locke was born in

Park Royal Park Royal is an area in North West London, England, partly in the London Borough of Brent and partly the London Borough of Ealing. It is the site of the largest business park in London, but despite intensive existing use, the area is, toget ...

but moved to Willesden as a six-year-old with his family in 1960. A

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, Locke spent much of his career at Chelsea, making more than 300 league and cup appearances for the west

side between 1972 and 1983. He turned professional in July 1971, made his debut in a 3–1 win against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

in the First Division on 30 September 1972, and scored his first goal for the club against the same opponents on 24 August 1974. Capable of making overlapping attacking runs up the wing, he was chosen as Chelsea Player of the Year in the 1973–74 season. In 1983, after a spell on loan at the club, he moved to Crystal Palace on a permanent basis, making another 101 league and cup appearances in total, before spending the 1986 season in Sweden with Halmstads BK. In 1987 Locke was brought to New Zealand by newly promoted National League club

Napier City Rovers Napier City Rovers is a football team based in Napier, New Zealand, competing in the Central Premier League. Club history The team was founded in 1973 via a merger of Napier Rovers and Napier City. Napier City Rovers have won New Zealand's p ...

. He captained the team in 1988 and helped the club win the National League championship in 1989. Locke was left out of Napier's squad for the 1992 National League campaign.

References

External links

1954 births Living people Footballers from Willesden English footballers Association football fullbacks Chelsea F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Halmstads BK players Napier City Rovers FC players English Football League players Allsvenskan players English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Sweden People educated at Willesden County Grammar School {{England-footy-defender-1950s-stub