Denzil Hale (9 April 1928 – 14 July 2004) is a 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 lea ...

, who 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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

. Hale started playing

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

for Yatton United and his home town team Clevedon Town before joining Bristol Rovers as an amateur in 1951. He was awarded a professional contract on 19 February 1952 and made his first team debut in a Division Two game in 1953. He initially played as an

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

, and spent some time playing as an emergency

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

following an injury to

Geoff Bradford Geoffrey Reginald William Bradford (18 July 1927 – 30 December 1994) was an English professional Association football, footballer who spent his entire career at Bristol Rovers F.C., Bristol Rovers and won one international cap for England na ...

. He was later converted to a centre half, and played in that position for the majority of his professional career. After playing 120 League games between 1953 and 1959 and scoring twelve goals, all in the 1953–54 season, Hale left Rovers and returned to non-League football, playing for Bath City before returning to his previous club Clevedon Town.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hale, Denzil 1928 births 2004 deaths People from Clevedon English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football defenders English Football League players Clevedon Town F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Bath City F.C. players Footballers from Somerset 20th-century English sportsmen