Richard Gray (born 1877) 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 as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

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 Burton Swifts and Burton United, and in the Southern League 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 ...

. Gray started his career playing for Burton Swifts, for whom he managed to score three goals in his 93 Football League appearances, before moving to Bristol Rovers in 1899.Joyce (2004), page 105 Rovers had just turned professional, and joined the newly created Southern League, and Gray was the first choice 'keeper in his two seasons in the

West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...

. He played in 53 of Rovers 56 League matches during this spell.Byrne & Jay (2003), page 490 In the meantime, his former club had merged with

Burton Wanderers Burton Wanderers Football Club was a football club based in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The club were members of the Football League for three seasons in the mid-1890s. In 1901 they merged with Burton Swifts to form Burton Unit ...

to form Burton United, and Gray moved to the new club in 1901, going on to play 50 times for them in the Football League.

References

Bibliography

* * 1877 births Year of death missing Footballers from Derby English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers English Football League players Southern Football League players Burton Swifts F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Burton United F.C. players {{England-footy-goalkeeper-stub