Anthony Leo Rougier (born 17 July 1971) is a Trinidadian former

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 ...

. A former international with 67 caps to his name, he came close to making the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

team for Trinidad and Tobago. He played for La Brea Angels, Trintoc,

United Petrotrin United Petrotrin Football Club was a football club from Trinidad and Tobago and a former member of the TT Pro League of Trinidad. It was dissolved in 2009. History Formed in 1980, ''Trintoc'' entered the Point Fortin Football League that same y ...

, and Trinity Pros, before signing with Scottish club Raith Rovers in March 1995. He helped the club to the First Division title in 1994–95, before joining Hibernian in July 1997 for a £250,000 fee. He helped "Hibs" to secure the First Division title in 1998–99, before he was sold on to English club

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

for £175,000 in January 1999. He moved on to

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for £325,000 in August 2000, and helped the "Royals" to promotion out of the

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 ...

in 2000–01. He switched to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

in May 2003, before joining

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

in March 2004. He then had spells in China with Nanjing Yoyo and in America with

Rochester Rhinos Rochester New York FC, formerly known as the Rochester Rhinos, are an American professional soccer team based in Rochester, New York, United States. Founded in 1996, as the Rochester Raging Rhinos, they changed their name to Rochester Rhinos to ...

, before returning to Trinidad to play for United Petrotrin,

North East Stars Athletic Club Port of Spain (previously known as North East Stars) is a Trinidad and Tobago professional football club, based in Port of Spain, Trinidad, that plays in the TT Pro League. The team plays its home games at the Hasely Crawford Stad ...

, and

FC South End FC South End was a football team from Trinidad and Tobago based in Point Fortin/ La Brea and is a former member of the TT Pro League, the highest level of football in Trinidad. History Founded in 2008, it played its home games at the Manny Ramjo ...

Club career

Starting his career in his native

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

with La Brea Angels, Trintoc,

, and Trinity Pros, Rougier switched the Caribbean for Raith Rovers of

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...

, Scotland in March 1995. He would have signed for

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

, but could not secure a work permit in time. He spent the first half of 1998–99 with Hibernian, playing eighteen games and scoring once against

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton ...

. It would prove to be an easy campaign for Alex McLeish's "Hibs", as they eventually finished 23 points clear of second place

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

. Rougier was not at Easter Road for the celebrations, however, having been sold to English club

for £175,000 in January 1999. He arrived at Vale Park with the club about to suffer a drastic downturn in fortunes as chairman Bill Bell replaced manager John Rudge with Brian Horton. He made twelve appearances for Vale at the end of the season. Rougier scored nine goals in 41 games in 1999–2000, becoming a crowd favourite and the club's top scorer, but it was not enough to prevent the "Valiants" from losing their First Division status. In August 2000 he was sold on to fellow

side

for £325,000, signing a three-year contract. Reading got to the play-off final at the end of the 2000–01 season, but Rougier scored an own goal as they lost to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

after extra-time. The following season, the club pushed for a second successive promotion, aiming for the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. Rougier was loaned out to Brighton & Hove Albion late in the season, scoring twice for the "Seagulls" in six appearances, leading to speculation of a permanent transfer. Returning to the Madejski Stadium in time for the play-offs, he played a part of the semi-final second leg, replacing

Darius Henderson Darius Alexis Henderson (born 7 September 1981) is an English professional footballer who last played as a striker for Eastleigh. Born in Sutton, England, (although he is often mistakenly cited as being born in Doncaster, where he moved at a y ...

after 64 minutes. Eventual play-off winners

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

beat Reading 3–1 on aggregate. At the end of the campaign, Rougier was not offered a new contract, and instead signed with

. Rougier played 34 games for Brentford in the 2003–04 season before switching to

in late March. On 2 May, his 21st-minute winner over

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

proved not enough to catch Queens Park Rangers, though the club had easily qualified for the play-offs. He scored the opener of the semi-final with

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

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, City winning 2–1 on aggregate, before falling 1–0 at the

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to his old club Brighton. He was then released by City. After a short spell with

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

club Nanjing Yoyo and speculation of signing with Northampton Town in September 2005, he spent a brief period in the USA with USL Pro club

. He ended his playing career back in Trinidad with United Petrotrin, before becoming Technical Advisor at

under manager David Farrell in 2008. In 2009, he co-founded

, which is the newest club to compete in the TT Pro League. In July 2009, he registered himself as a player-coach in order to boost the fortunes of his struggling side.

International career

Rougier earned 67 caps for the Trinidad and Tobago national team between 1995 and 2005, scoring five goals. He served as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on numerous occasions. During this time his country won the Caribbean Cup in

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and

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, beating

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

on home soil in the final on both occasions. They also reached the final in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, but were beaten 2–1 by

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. He was also in the squad for the

and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

editions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. He was on the 24-man shortlist for the squad for the

, but was excluded from the final 23. Manager

Leo Beenhakker Leo Beenhakker CM (; born 2 August 1942) is a Dutch international football coach. He has had an extensive and successful career both at club and international level. He led both Ajax and Feyenoord to Dutch championships and also had domestic s ...

said: "The guy worked fantastically and he did everything he had to do to try and make it and in the end I had to make a decision."

Personal life

A "proud and passionate

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

", Rougier used to celebrate goals with a

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...

. He advised good friend and fellow footballer Dwight Yorke to "calm down a bit with the ladies" following Yorke's love life being splashed across the British tabloids. He grew up next door to

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

Gus Logie Augustine Lawrence Logie (born 28 September 1960), commonly known as Gus Logie, is a former West Indies and Trinidad and Tobago cricketer and is currently an international cricket coach. Logie played in the dominant West Indies team of the 1980 ...

and worked at an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

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before trying his luck with football in England. Rougier is a lifelong

teetotaler Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or i ...

. On multiple occasions during his playing career, he was awarded a bottle of champagne for winning the

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

award, only to refuse it and hand it back to the organisers. His family include wife Trisha and daughters Alishia-Kae and Maya-Kai.

Career statistics

Club

International

References