James Gary McGuire (born 30 September 1938) is an English former

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

goalkeeper 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

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

. He was born in Campsall, in the parish of Norton,

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

, Yorkshire. McGuire started playing football as a 16-year-old with West Ham United, before going on to play for Walthamstow Avenue, with whom he won the 1961 FA Amateur Cup. Described in the July 1961 edition of ''Charles Buchan's Football Monthly'' as "the most improved goalkeeper in the Isthmian League", McGuire played for the Isthmian League representative side that visited

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

as part of the

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

n Independence celebrations. He then spent three years in Australia, returning to England in February 1966 to join

from Hakoah. He took his chance to replace Terry Adlington when he was out of the side with a broken finger, and helped the club to promotion from the Fourth Division. He played 32 first-team games for Torquay before leaving league football, playing in turn for non-league sides Bedford Town and Hastings United. McGuire worked in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

as an equities trader until he retired in 2003.

References

1938 births Living people People from Norton, Doncaster Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster Footballers from South Yorkshire English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Walthamstow Avenue F.C. players Hakoah Sydney City East FC players Torquay United F.C. players Bedford Town F.C. players Hastings United F.C. (1948) players Isthmian League players English Football League players Southern Football League players {{England-footy-goalkeeper-1930s-stub