Ernest Harry Gill (24 August 1877 – 1 June 1950) was an English

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

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 made single appearances at

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

in 1900 and for

Leicester Fosse Leicester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the city of Leicester, East Midlands, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English f ...

in 1901. He also made five appearances for

Leicestershire County Cricket Club Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the coun ...

in 1901.

Football career

Gill was born in

Mountsorrel Mountsorrel is a village in Leicestershire on the River Soar, just south of Loughborough with a population in 2001 of 6,662 inhabitants, increasing to 8,223 at the 2011 census. Geography The village is in the borough of Charnwood, surrounding ...

, Leicestershire before moving to

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...

where he played as an amateur for White Star (

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

Bridgwater Town Bridgwater United Football Club is a football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset, England. Affiliated to the Somerset County FA, they are currently members of the and play at Fairfax Park. History Bridgwater Association Football Club were esta ...

and

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 ...

(without making any first-team appearances). His performances earned him a call-up to represent the

Somerset County Football Association The Somerset County Football Association, also known as the Somerset FA, is the governing body of football in the county of Somerset. The association was formed in 1885. History The Somerset County Football Association was formed in 1885. ...

. After playing for

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

reserves, he was offered a trial by Southern League champions,

. He made his solitary appearance for the "Saints" on 17 March 1900, when he took the place of Peter Meechan at

against Sheppey United. Although the match was won 5–0 (with two goals each from former

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

internationals

Alf Milward Alfred Milward (12 September 1870 – 1 June 1941) was a professional footballer who played in the 1893 and 1897 FA Cup Finals for Everton and in the 1900 FA Cup Final for Southampton. Early career Born in Great Marlow, Milward was one of th ...

and Harry Wood), Gill had a poor game. Nonetheless, the Southampton board offered him a position with the club, which Gill decided to decline. He subsequently turned out for local rivals,

Freemantle Freemantle is a suburb and electoral ward in Southampton, England. There are similarly named places in Hampshire: notably Henry II's hunting lodge in Kingsclere; an area near Hannington; and Freemantle Common in Bitterne. These were former ...

, before moving back to his home county in 1901. He then signed for

of the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

, making one appearance at

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, replacing George Swift.

Cricket career

During the summer of 1901, Gill made five appearances for

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, in which he scored a total of 23 runs and took 12 wickets, at averages of 11.50 and 34.41 respectively.

Family

His brother, George Gill also played cricket for Leicestershire, as well as for London County and

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, Ernest 1877 births 1950 deaths Sportspeople from Loughborough Footballers from Leicestershire English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Bridgwater United F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Freemantle F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players English cricketers Leicestershire cricketers Cricketers from Leicestershire