Bruce Ian Bannister (born 14 April 1947) is an English retired 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 striker, and is also a businessperson in sports shoe and apparel sales and distribution.

Football career

Born in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, Bannister played for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

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 ...

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

and

USL Dunkerque Union Sportive du Littoral de Dunkerque () is a Association football, football club based in Dunkirk, France. It competes in Ligue 2, having achieved promotion from the Championnat National in the 2022–23 Championnat National, 2022–23 seas ...

. At Bradford City, he was known for scoring a "wonder goal" in 1968, an overhead kick. While at Bristol Rovers, Bannister and teammate

Alan Warboys Alan Warboys (born 18 April 1949) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. Career Warboys began his career at Doncaster Rovers, making his debut in April 1967 at the age of 17, before moving to Sheffield Wednesday ...

developed the 'Smash and Grab' method of football.

Business career

Bannister founded Sportsshoes in 1982. In 1985, Sportsshoes launched its mail order service, and later became one of the first retailers to launch an e-commerce website. The business was later taken over by Bannister's son Brett, and became an exclusively online and mail order operation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannister, Bruce 1947 births Living people Footballers from Bradford Leeds United F.C. players English men's footballers Bradford City A.F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players USL Dunkerque players English Football League players Men's association football forwards English expatriate men's footballers English expatriates in France Expatriate men's footballers in France