Joshua Darren Hare (born 12 August 1994) is 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 le ...

who plays as a defender for club

Boreham Wood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...

Career

Hare signed his first professional contract with Gillingham in November 2012. In February 2012, he joined

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

Division One South side Whitstable Town on a work-experience loan, along with Jake Hessenthaler. In January 2013, he signed for

Division One side

Maidstone United Maidstone United Football Club is a professional football club based in Maidstone, Kent, England. The team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league system. The current club filled the void left by the ol ...

on a work experience loan. Following his loan at Maidstone, he signed for Isthmian League Premier side

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

on another work experience loan in February 2013, along with

Jake Hessenthaler Jakob Andrew Hessenthaler (born 20 April 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for National League (division), National League club Dagenham and Redbridge. He initially came through the youth academy at Chelsea F ...

. In October 2013, he signed for Hastings United on a one-month loan deal, following in the footsteps of his father who played for the club in the 1980's/90's. He signed a one-year contract with the "Gills" in May 2014, but found first-team football hard to come by and was sent on an initial one-month loan to Conference South side Eastbourne Borough. His loan was extended to 10 January but on 5 January the loan was cut short. On 8 July 2016, having left Gillingham, Hare signed for Eastbourne Borough.

Bristol Rovers

On 12 June 2019, Hare signed 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 c ...

on a free transfer following the expiry of his contract at

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 ...

. After making an impressive start to the season, Hare suffered an injury and had to be stretchered off in a league match against Gillingham on 17 September. He returned to first-team action on 7 March 2020 in a 3–1 defeat to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

and featured three days later in a 2–0 win against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, the last match before the league's abandonment. He scored his first goal for the club on 18 November 2020, scoring a 90th-minute winner in a 4–3 victory over Chelsea U21 in the final match of the group stage of the

EFL 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 Le ...

, with Hare's goal seeing ''the Gas'' qualify for the knockout stages. At the end of the 2020–21 season, a season that saw ''the Gas'' relegated bottom of the league, Hare was announced to be one of the players to not be having his contract renewed.

Eastleigh

On 29 June 2021, Hare returned to

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 ...

side

on a permanent deal. On 14 September, he scored his first goal back at the club with the fourth in a 4–1 thrashing of

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

having already set up his side's second goal.

Dagenham & Redbridge

On 19 February 2022, he signed for National League divisional rivals

Dagenham & 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 Dag ...

for an undisclosed fee. Manager

Daryl McMahon Daryl McMahon (born 10 October 1983) is an Irish former football player and manager who was most recently manager of club Dagenham & Redbridge. McMahon represented the Republic of Ireland Under-16 team at the 2000 UEFA European Under-16 Foo ...

stated that Hare was "a player that I’ve admired for a long time". In May 2024, it was announced that Hare would depart the club upon the expiration of his contract.

Boreham Wood

On 6 June 2024, Hare joined recently relegated

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

Personal life

Hare is the son of former Gillingham youth team manager

Darren Hare Darren Hare (born 2 April 1967) is an English football coach and former player, who is first team coach at Faversham Town. Career Born in Canterbury, he began his career playing for the youth teams of Dover and Gillingham and went on to play ...

, the nephew of former Gillingham player and manager

Andy Hessenthaler Andrew Hessenthaler (born 17 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player who is head of recruitment at club Gillingham. He began his career in non-league football and did not turn professional until he joined Watford at ...

, and the cousin of another former Gills player,

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *National League Team of the Year: 2018–19

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hare, Josh 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Canterbury Footballers from Kent English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Gillingham F.C. players Whitstable Town F.C. players Eastbourne Borough F.C. players Lewes F.C. players Leatherhead F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players Hastings United F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Boreham Wood F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players