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 {{England-footy-forward-1950s-stub