Albert Hill (8 March 1930 – 14 July 2017) was 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 lea ...

who played as a

wing-half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

Career

Born in

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

, London, Hill began his career at Chelsea, where he signed a professional contract in May 1950. He failed to break into the first-team, and joined

Third Division South The Third Division South of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

club

on trial in August 1952. He signed permanently for a £300 fee by the end of September 1952. He made his debut on 11 April 1953 in Colchester's 3–1 win against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

. That was to be his only appearance of the season, and over the next four seasons played a role as a squad-player, unable to hold down a regular starting position. Hill handed in a transfer request at the end of the 1956–57 season in order to find a club closer to his London home. However, his final campaign with the club proved to be his most rewarding making 32 first-team appearances. After making 107 appearances and scoring three goals, he left Colchester in July 1958 to join

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

. He signed for Hastings United in June 1959, and later played for Canterbury City before knee injuries caused him to end his playing career.

After football

After quitting football, Hill had jobs driving for

Schweppes Schweppes ( , ) is a soft drink brand founded in the Republic of Geneva in 1783 by the German watchmaker and amateur scientist Johann Jacob Schweppe; it is now made, bottled, and distributed worldwide by multiple international conglomerates, de ...

, working for a paper bag manufacturer and later became a London

taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

driver. He died at the age of 87 on 14 July 2017.

Career statistics

References

External links

Bertie Hill Career Stats at Neil Brown's
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Bert 1930 births 2017 deaths Footballers from the London Borough of Newham People from West Ham English men's footballers Men's association football wing halves Chelsea F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Dartford F.C. players Hastings United F.C. (1948) players Canterbury City F.C. players English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen