John Gingell
29th July 1939 – 30th October 2026
An accomplished international athlete, John Gingell, who passed away on 30th October at the age of 87, became a consultant fitness coach to Bristol Rovers when Ian Holloway was appointed as manager in the summer of 1996.
He had spent some 40 years working at Fry’s chocolate factory at Keynsham but the company allowed him to participate in athletics events during his long career with them.
‘Ginge’ had also competed at Eastville; he came third in the senior 880yard event at an invitation athletics meeting organised by Westbury Harriers on Tuesday 15th September 1964 on a night when Rovers played Peterborough United and won 4-0, thanks to an Alfie Biggs hat trick and another goal from Bobby Jones.
A newspaper report of the event said; ‘It may be significant that at least 50% of the crowd of 17,415 arrived early and remained after the match to watch the final event. Even the first race, at around 7.05pm, when the ground is usually almost empty, was watched by about 7,000 spectators.’
His athletics career saw him win the AAA indoor 880 yard championship in 1966, win over 50 County titles and represent Great Britain and England in 28 international races.
It was this experience that he brought to his role as fitness coach with Rovers and he certainly worked the players hard, as some who were in the squad during his tenure will testify.
He took his role seriously and enjoyed working with Holloway’s squad and was trusted by the manager to improve overall levels of fitness of the players.
He helped many players enhance their running ability and all round fitness levels and took great pleasure in imparting his knowledge and using his experience to get the best from Holloway’s squad and was a very popular member of staff.
John will be missed by many who came across him either through his involvement in athletics or through his association with Bristol Rovers and we send our condolences to his close family and wider circle of friends at this sad time.
