Gareth Stuart Gwillim (born 9 January 1983) is an English 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 as a

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 ...

Career

Born in

Farnborough, London Farnborough is a village in Greater London, England. Situated south of Locksbottom, west of Green Street Green, north of Downe and Hazelwood, London, Hazelwood, and east of Keston, it is centred southeast of Charing Cross. Suburban develop ...

, Gwillim began his career as a junior at

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The most prominent aspect of the club is its men's first team, who play in the , the seventh level of the E ...

and

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

, before moving into non-League football, playing for such teams as Farnborough Town, Ashford Town (Kent),

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is in the London metropolitan area, London commuter belt, near the border with Essex, just west of the ...

and

Histon Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road (England), A14 road which runs eas ...

. After Histon rejected a formal approach from

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club (), often known simply as Dagenham and abbreviated when written to Dag & Red, is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England that play in the , the sixth level of the En ...

in November 2009, Gwillim eventually signed for Dagenham & Redbridge in June 2010 on a two-year deal. Gwillim made his professional debut on 31 August 2010, in a 0–1 defeat in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

. After the match, Gwillim publicly announced his plans to usurp

Damien McCrory Damien Paul McCrory (born 23 February 1990) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for side Leicester St Andrews. He made 442 appearances in all competitions during a 15-year career. First signing professional forms with ...

as the club's first-choice left back. Gwillim made his debut 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 ...

on 21 September 2010. On 13 January 2011, Gwillim agreed a loan deal with

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

, playing with them in the 2011 Conference play-off final. Gwillim signed permanently for the club in July 2011. He then returned to non-league football with

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional association football club from Sutton, South London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Sutton started out playing in junior, ...

and

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. The club compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1946 from the merger ...

References

1983 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Welling United F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Farnborough F.C. players Ashford United F.C. players Bishop's Stortford F.C. players Histon F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Sutton United F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Footballers from the London Borough of Bromley People from Farnborough, London 21st-century English sportsmen {{England-footy-defender-1980s-stub