Roland Barry Gregoire (born 23 November 1958) is an English former 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
striker.
Career
Born in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, Gregoire was educated at
St Bede's Grammar School
)
, established = 1900
, closed = 2014
, type = Secondary school
, religious_affiliation = Roman CatholicDiocese of Leeds
, president =
, head_label = Headteacher
, head = Mr. F. Ashcroft
, r_head_label = E ...
in
Bradford. He began his career with
Halifax Town
FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...
, making five league appearances in the 1977–78 season. Gregoire moved to
Sunderland for £5,000 in January 1978, becoming the first black player to play for them. Whilst playing for Halifax reserves, Gregoire scored a hat-trick against Sunderland reserves to prompt Sunderland manager
Jimmy Adamson
James Adamson (4 April 1929 – 8 November 2011) was an English professional footballer and football manager. He was born in Ashington, Northumberland. He made 486 appearances for Burnley ranking him sixth in their all-time appearance lis ...
into signing him.
He made his debut for Sunderland against
Hull City
Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...
due to injuries to other first team strikers.
Gregoire spent two seasons with Sunderland — scoring one goal in nine league appearances — before retiring in 1980 due to injury.
References
1958 births
Living people
English men's footballers
Halifax Town A.F.C. players
Sunderland A.F.C. players
English Football League players
Men's association football forwards
People educated at St. Bede's Grammar School
Footballers from Liverpool
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