Geoff Hallas (8 February 1930 – 6 June 1982) was an English

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 full-back in the Football League for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. His career started with

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester city centre and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the ...

and

Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, southeast of Oldham and east of Manchester. The historic counties of Lancashire, Cheshir ...

for whom he played four games in the 1949–50 season, before he went to undertake his

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

. After completing his national service he played for Warminster Town before signing for

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club West Ham in March 1954. He made four appearances for the club: three in the League and one in the Essex Professional Cup during the 1954–55 season. Hallas suffered a head injury during a

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

match 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 ...

early in the 1955–56 season, which affected his sight. He thereafter retired from football on doctors advice. The club awarded Hallas a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

, jointly with Brian Moore, who had also seen his professional career cut short through injury that season. The match featured a number of big names in the All Star XI team, such as

Jimmy Scoular James Scoular (11 January 1925 – 19 March 1998) was a Scottish football player and manager. Known as a tough, combative player with precise passing skills, Scoular made over 600 appearances in the Football League with Portsmouth, Newcastle ...

Cliff Holton Clifford Charles Holton (29 April 1929 – 31 May 1996) was an English footballer. Born in Oxford, Holton played as a full back for non-league Oxford City as a youth, before joining Arsenal in October 1947 at the age of 18. He spent three sea ...

Roy Paul Roy Paul (18 April 1920 – 21 May 2002) was a Welsh professional footballer who played as a half-back for Swansea Town and Manchester City. He also represented the Welsh national team over 30 times and is regarded as one of Wales' best eve ...

and

Trevor Ford Trevor Ford (1 October 1923 – 29 May 2003) was a Welsh professional footballer who played as a centre forward for Swansea Town, Aston Villa, Sunderland, Cardiff City, PSV, Newport County and Romford, as well as for the Wales national ...

, and also included former West Ham players

Harry Hooper Harry Bartholomew Hooper (August 24, 1887 – December 18, 1974) was an American professional baseball right fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB). Hooper batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Hooper was born in Bell Station, Ca ...

and

Eric Parsons Eric George Parsons (9 November 1923 – 7 February 2011) was a footballer who played for West Ham United, Chelsea and Brentford in England. Career An outside forward and crowd favourite whose blistering pace earned him the nickname "the Ra ...

. His benefit received from the match totalled £991 11s 3d from gate receipts and £15 0s 3d from donations.

References

External links

Geoff Hallas
at westhamstats.info 1930 births 1982 deaths People from Saddleworth Footballers from Greater Manchester Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Footballers from Lancashire English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Droylsden F.C. players Mossley A.F.C. players Warminster Town F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players English Football League players {{England-footy-defender-1930s-stub