Leighton Terence McGivern-Henshaw (born 2 June 1984) is a semi-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 played as a striker. He notably 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 ...

with

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

and

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...

Club career

After playing for Everton as a trainee, McGivern signed for Welsh club

Aberystwyth Town Aberystwyth Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-Droed Tref Aberystwyth) is a Welsh semi-professional Association football, football team, currently playing in the Cymru Premier, the top tier of football in Wales. They are the only top flight men ...

in the inaugural season of the

League of Wales The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 200 ...

. In July 2003 he joined Kidsgrove Athletic. He then joined Liverpool Combination side Waterloo Dock where he scored 42 goals for the club in only 25 matches in the league and Liverpool County FA Challenge Cup. At the same time he played with Britannia in the Liverpool Sunday League. Next he joined

Vauxhall Motors Vauxhall Motors LimitedCompany No. 00135767. Incorporated 12 May 1914, name changed from Vauxhall Motors Limited to General Motors UK Limited on 16 April 2008, reverted to Vauxhall Motors Limited on 18 September 2017. () is a British car compa ...

, where he scored once in his only appearance for the club, before moving to

where he made twenty-five

appearances. He left the club in May 2005. A return to Vauxhall in August 2005 was followed by a time on trial with Chester City in October 2006. He then had second spell as a full-time professional player, this time with

who he joined in November 2006. The following month he was ruled out for 4 months after breaking a bone in his ankle. He was released by the club, along with ten teammates in May 2008. In April 2009, he was charged by

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

, in relation to his alleged failure to provide the FA with information requested, during their investigation into illegal betting by his former Accrington teammates on one of their matches. He then dropped down a significant number of divisions, playing again for Liverpool-based side Waterloo Dock for two seasons, scoring at least 40 goals in the first season. He returned to play for

in January 2011 scoring on his debut at home to Corby Town He was also playing for Oysters Martyrs FC and scored the winning goal in the

FA Sunday Cup The FA Sunday Cup is a knock-out competition founded in 1964 for English Sunday league football teams. Prior to 1960 The Football Association did not permit clubs or players under its jurisdiction to take part in competitive football played on S ...

final as his team beat fellow Liverpool side Paddock FC at Tranmere Rovers'

Prenton Park Prenton Park is a large outdoor seated association football stadium in Birkenhead, England. It is the home ground of Tranmere Rovers, as well as Liverpool's women and reserves teams. The ground has had several rebuilds, with the most recent o ...

in May 2011. In 2011, he went on trial at Stockport County and scored in a friendly against New Mills. He was offered a contract by the club but re-signed for Vauxhall. He left Vauxhall for a third time at the end of February 2012. He joined

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

in March 2012. He scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against Eastwood Town on 21 April. He was told by the club that he would be offered new terms for the 2012/13 season but was released in late July when after his failure to turn up to any of the pre-season training sessions or to reply to any of the messages left for him by the club on his telephone. In September 2012, he was back playing Sunday League football in Liverpool for Oysters Martyrs FC, where that season he again helped the club win the

, scoring a hat-trick as the club beat Barnes Albion 4–3. In October 2021, after almost a decade away from senior football, McGivern joined Lower Breck in the

North West Counties Football League The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern S ...

, making his debut against

Skelmersdale United Skelmersdale United Football Club is a football club from Skelmersdale, Lancashire. They are currently members of the and play at The Community Ground, Burscough. The club is a member of both the Liverpool F.A. and the Lancashire County Footb ...

. He retired in February 2022, having scored 7 goals in 16 games for the club. He scored in his final appearance, a 4–4 draw against

Charnock Richard Charnock Richard is a small village and civil parish in the borough of Chorley, Lancashire, in England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 1,748. History The village was named in the early 13th century by the local ...

Honours

Liverpool County Combination The Liverpool County Football Combination was a association football, football league based in Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1908 and had its first season in 1909–10. A second division was quickly formed, and the league ran with two divi ...

: Winner's medal with Waterloo Dock – 2003–04 * Liverpool County FA Challenge Cup: Winner's medal with Waterloo Dock – 2003–04 *

Liverpool County Premier League The Liverpool County Premier League is a football competition based in Merseyside, England. It was founded in 2006 as a merger of the Liverpool County Football Combination and the I Zingari League. The league has three divisions, the Premier Div ...

: Winner's medals with Waterloo Dock – 2008–09 and 2009–10 *

: Winner's medals with Oysters Martyrs FC – 2010–11 and 2012–13

References

External links

*
Waterloo Dock AFCWelsh Premier League profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGivern, Leighton Living people 1984 births English men's footballers Rochdale A.F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Footballers from Liverpool Vauxhall Motors F.C. players Aberystwyth Town F.C. players English Football League players Altrincham F.C. players Cymru Premier players Kidsgrove Athletic F.C. players Waterloo Dock A.F.C. players Men's association football forwards Lower Breck F.C. players North West Counties Football League players