Douglas Alfred Hillard (10 August 1935 – 1997) 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 over 300 games in an eleven-year period 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 ...

, his only

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 ...

club.

Footballing career

Prior to joining the ''Pirates'' Hillard had played as an amateur for Maywood, for whom he once scored eight goals in a 15–0 victory over Lockleaze Rovers Juniors in 1952, and Bristol Mental Hospital. Hillard joined

in 1957, and enjoyed a long career with them, spending a total of eleven years at the club. His 318 league appearances put him 19th on the list of Rovers players with the most appearances, and he is one of only twenty men to have played over 300 games for them. After leaving Bristol Rovers in 1968 Hillard joined Taunton Town as player-manager and found immediate success with the

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

club, winning the team's first ever Western League title in his first year in charge. He remained in charge of Taunton for five seasons before being appointed manager of Mangotsfield United in 1973, a position he held for many years.

Personal life

Hillard was born in Bristol in 1935 and was the son of Douglas E. Hillard, who was a painter and decorator, and Doris Amy Bamford. He had a younger brother, John, who was eight years his junior. Before retiring from playing football Hillard opened a shop selling sporting goods, ''Doug Hillard Sports'', which was originally located on

Stapleton Road Stapleton Road is a major thoroughfare in the English city of Bristol, running through the districts of Lawrence Hill, Bristol, Lawrence Hill and Easton, Bristol, Easton. It is known for being very culturally diverse with many esoteric shops. ...

, near Rovers'

Eastville Stadium Eastville Stadium, also known as Bristol Stadium and Bristol Stadium – Eastville, was a stadium in Eastville, a northern suburb of the English city of Bristol. Constructed in 1897, it was the home of Bristol Rovers F.C., the Bristol Bulld ...

, but later moved to the

Fishponds Fishponds is a suburb in the north-east of the English city of Bristol, about from Bristol city centre, the city centre. It is mainly residential, and housing is typically terraced Victorian. It has a small student population from the presence ...

area of Bristol. The shop is managed by Doug's son Gary Hillard. Doug died in January 1997 and was survived by his wife Janet and son Gary. In September 2014 he was posthumously awarded the

Harry Bamford Henry Charles Bamford (8 February 1920 – 31 October 1958) was a professional footballer, who played for Bristol Rovers for his entire professional career. A local man, born and raised in St. Philip's Marsh, he played chiefly as a right-b ...

trophy, which is presented to Bristol sportsmen to recognise sportsmanship and fair play.

References

External links

Doug Hillard Sports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hillard, Doug 1935 births 1997 deaths Footballers from Bristol English men's footballers Bristol Rovers F.C. players Taunton Town F.C. players Taunton Town F.C. managers Mangotsfield United F.C. managers English Football League players Men's association football fullbacks English football managers 20th-century English sportsmen