List of Bristol Rovers F.C. players

A middle aged man wearing shirt, grey pullover and light grey anorak, holding a trophy cup. other people behind him, all standing on grass. Bottom right of picture cut off by a wall.
Bristol Rovers record scorer, Geoff Bradford, who scored 355 goals for the club, 242 of which were in the Football League.

The following article is a list of footballers past and present who have played for Bristol Rovers Football Club.

In the club's early history the appearance record was held by goalkeeper Arthur Cartlidge,[1] who played in 258 Southern League games between 1901 and 1909.[2] His record stood until it was broken by another goalkeeper, Jesse Whatley, who played 14 times in the Southern League and a further 372 in The Football League, making a total of 386 overall.[3] Following the Second World War the Bristol Rovers board introduced a no-buy/no-sell policy, which remained in force until the abolition of the maximum wage in football in 1961; as a result some players in that era had a high number of appearances for the club.[4] Eight of the top nine most-used players played during this time, each making over 400 appearances. These eight were Bobby Jones (421 appearances), Alfie Biggs (424), Ray Warren (450), Harold Jarman (452), George Petherbridge (457), Geoff Bradford (462), Jack Pitt (466), and Harry Bamford (486).[5] The club's all-time leading appearance maker, Stuart Taylor, played in 546 League games between 1965 and 1980.[6] The club's highest scorer by a wide margin is Geoff Bradford, who scored 242 times in The Football League,[7] exceeding the next-highest scorer Alfie Biggs by 64 goals.[8]

  1. ^ Byrne & Jay (2003), p. 82
  2. ^ Byrne & Jay (2003), p. 88
  3. ^ Jay & Byrne (1994), pp. 286–287
  4. ^ Giles (2007), p. 22
  5. ^ Jay & Byrne (1994), p. 95
  6. ^ Jay & Byrne (1994), p. 264
  7. ^ Rollin & Rollin (2009), p. 115
  8. ^ Jay & Byrne (1994), p. 72