A couple of years ago I was asked, by the club, if I had a list of players who hade made 100 appearances or more during their Rovers career as they wanted to create a Centurions wall in the Hospitality Suite in the East Stand.
Well, I didn’t have such a list but set about compiling one and not being a statto (an anorak yes, a statto no!) I took the advice of those who specialise in statistical analysis and included only league games in my list, which is why some players, who appeared in over 100 games in all competitions aren’t listed.
As we are talking Football League (now the EFL) appearances, others also missed out because their total games played include our season in what was then The Conference. Apologies, then, to Daniel Leadbitter, Mark McChrystal, Steve Mildenhall and Matty Taylor for their omissions.
Then a decision had to be made as to whether the players should be listed in alphabetical or chronological order. Having attempted an alphabetical one, I plumped for a chronological one which is why Jesse Whatley came in at number one as he made his league debut before any others on the list (September 9th, 1920 in case you’re wondering!).
The most popular date for centurions seems to have been August 31st 1946 when Harry Bamford, Vic Lambden, Jackie Pitt, Randell Burnell ‘Barry’ Watkins and Arthur Weare all made their league debut for the club and went on to make in excess of 100 league appearances. August 7th 2004 was also a good day for centurions as four players who made their Rovers debut that day not only completed more than a century of league games, but went on to be members of the squad that achieved promotion three years later; Stuart Campbell, Steve Elliott, Craig Hinton and Richard Walker.
Some who missed out were tantalisingly close to reaching their century. For example, Christian Edwards got to 99 before he left and so doesn’t appear on the list.
Substitute appearances are included in the total and the latest centurion is Connor Taylor, who made his 100th league appearance in our game against Peterborough United on February 2nd.
Of the remainder of the current squad, Luke McCormick has appeared in 96 league games, but is currently on loan at Forest Green Rovers so it’s not certain that he will make his century. Scott Sinclair and Luke Thomas are into the eighties and with 18 games remaining, could well reach the 100 mark before the end of this season.
Of the 1,022 players who have appeared in the league for Bristol Rovers to date, I make it that only 145 have gone on to complete their century. I thought it might have been more!
For what it’s worth, I thought the idea of a centurions wall was a good one so anyone from the club reading this might wish to resurrect it and include it in any revamp of The Memorial Stadium. It could even be a sponsored outside wall; I’d be happy to pay £50 to sponsor the next brick in the wall!
BRISTOL ROVERS CENTURIONS – CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
NAME | DEBUT |
Jesse Whatley | September 9th 1920 |
Jerry Morgan | October 30th 1920 |
James Haydon | December 31st 1921 |
Harold Armitage | August 26th 1922 |
Ernie Whatmore | August 27th 1923 |
James Lofthouse | December 8th 1923 |
Thomas Roberts | September 26th 1925 |
Fred Bennett | February 27th 1926 |
Ronnie Dix | February 25th 1928 |
Bill Pickering | August 29th 1931 |
Alec Donald | August 27th 1932 |
George McNestry | August 27th 1932 |
Wally McArthur | April 29th 1933 |
Jock McLean | August 26th 1933 |
Ray Warren | March 14th 1936 |
Joe Nicholls | August 29th 1936 |
Matt O’Mahoney | September 23rd 1936 |
Harry Bamford | August 31st 1946 |
Vic Lambden | August 31st 1946 |
Jackie Pitt | August 31st 1946 |
Barry Watkins | August 31st 1946 |
Arthur Weare | August 31st 1946 |
Len Hodges | September 14th 1946 |
George Petherbridge | October 5th 1946 |
Jimmy Morgan | November 23rd 1946 |
Geoff Fox | September 27th 1947 |
Josser Watling | February 14th 1948 |
Bryan Bush | April 28th 1948 |
Peter Sampson | August 21st 1948 |
Bill Roost | April 15th 1949 |
Geoff Bradford | September 24th 1949 |
Bert Hoyle | August 19th 1950 |
Barrie Meyer | October 7th 1950 |
Howard Radford | October 27th 1951 |
Paddy Hale | November 28th 1953 |
Alfie Biggs | February 6th 1954 |
Peter Hooper | March 27th 1954 |
Dai Ward | April 16th 1955 |
Norman Sykes | December 26th 1956 |
David Pyle | March 9th 1957 |
Ray Mabbutt | September 4th 1957 |
Bobby Jones | November 2nd 1957 |
Ian Hamilton | December 6th 1958 |
Doug Hillard | December 13th 1958 |
Harold Jarman | December 26th 1959 |
Terry Oldfield | November 5th 1960 |
Joe Davis | February 25th 1961 |
Bernard Hall | April 20th 1962 |
Gwyn Jones | August 19th 1962 |
Dave Stone | August 28th 1962 |
Alex Munro | December 1st 1962 |
John Brown | September 1963 |
Lindsay Parsons | April 1964 |
Ray Graydon | September 7th 1965 |
Stuart Taylor | April 26th 1966 |
Wayne Jones | February 25th 1967 |
Frankie Prince | May 4th 1968 |
Tom Stanton | August 31st 1968 |
Dick Sheppard | August 9th 1969 |
Phil Roberts | August 23rd 1969 |
Kenny Stephens | January 2nd 1971 |
Gordon Fearnley | March 16th 1971 |
Bruce Bannister | November 9th 1971 |
Peter Aitken | August 29th 1972 |
Jim Eadie | February 17th 1973 |
Alan Warboys | March 6th 1973 |
Dave Staniforth | March 9th 1974 |
Phil Bater | September 14th 1974 |
Graham Day | March 11th 1975 |
David Williams | August 16th 1975 |
Tony Pulis | August 30th 1975 |
Martin Thomas | January 3rd 1977 |
Vaughan Jones | May 17th 1977 |
Paul Randall | August 20th 1977 |
Steve White | March 27th 1978 |
Gary Mabbutt | December 16th 1978 |
Micky Barrett | April 5th 1980 |
Aidan McCaffery | August 19th 1980 |
Geraint Williams | October 18th 1980 |
Neil Slatter | April 11th 1981 |
Ian Holloway | April 25th 1981 |
Tim Parkin | August 29th 1981 |
Brian Williams | August 29th 1981 |
Archie Stephens | September 1981 |
Gary Penrice | April 27th 1985 |
David Mehew | October 26th 1985 |
Phil Purnell | March 29th 1986 |
Ian Alexander | August 23rd 1986 |
Geoff Twentyman | September 6th 1986 |
Steve Yates | March 3rd 1987 |
Nigel Martyn | August 15th 1987 |
Andy Reece | August 15th 1987 |
Devon White | August 15th 1987 |
Billy Clark | October 17th 1987 |
Brian Parkin | November 25th 1989 |
Marcus Browning | January 28th 1990 |
Carl Saunders | February 10th 1990 |
Tony Pounder | August 25th 1990 |
Marcus Stewart | August 17th 1991 |
Justin Skinner | August 31st 1991 |
Lee Archer | September 4th 1991 |
Justin Channing | October 24th 1992 |
Andy Tillson | November 7th 1992 |
Worrell Sterling | August 14th 1993 |
David Pritchard | March 15th 1994 |
Andy Gurney | April 2nd 1994 |
Paul Miller | August 20th 1994 |
Andy Collett | October 22nd 1994 |
Peter Beadle | November 18th 1995 |
Jamie Cureton | September 21st 1996 |
Steve Foster | August 9th 1997 |
Trevor Challis | August 8th 1998 |
Andy Thomson | January 16th 1999 |
Nathan Ellington | February 23rd 1999 |
Vitalijs Astafjevs | January 29th 2000 |
Junior Agogo | August 9th 2003 |
Lewis Haldane | September 27th 2003 |
Aaron Lescott | March 27th 2004 |
Stuart Campbell | August 7th 2004 |
Steve Elliott | August 7th 2004 |
Craig Hinton | August 7th 2004 |
Richard Walker | August 7th 2004 |
Craig Disley | September 11th 2004 |
Chris Carruthers | March 26th 2005 |
Chris Lines | January 21st 2006 |
Steve Phillips | August 5th 2006 |
Byron Anthony | August 12th 2006 |
Rickie Lambert | September 3rd 2006 |
Danny Coles | November 3rd 2007 |
Jeff Hughes | August 9th 2008 |
Jo Kuffour | September 6th 2008 |
Ellis Harrison | April 16th 2011 |
Ollie Clarke | May 7th 2011 |
Lee Brown | August 6th 2011 |
Michael Smith | August 6th 2011 |
Tom Parkes | February 11th 2012 |
Tom Lockyer | January 12th 2015 |
James Clarke | August 8th 2015 |
Stuart Sinclair | August 8th 2015 |
Rory Gaffney | November 28th 2015 |
Liam Sercombe | August 5th 2017 |
Aaron Collins | August 14th 2021 |
Antony Evans | September 4th 2021 |
Sam Finley | August 14th 2021 |
Connor Taylor | August 7th 2021 |
If you find any errors, please let me knowI
secretary@bristolroverssc.co.uk