Gerry Gazzard was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 footballer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 who played for West Ham United

West Ham United F.C.

West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...

 and Brentford

Brentford F.C.

Brentford Football Club are a professional English football club based in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow. They are currently playing in Football League One....

.

Gazzard was born in Cinderford

Cinderford

Cinderford is a small town on the eastern fringe of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. A population of 8,116 people is recorded in the 2001 census....

, Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

 and having previously played as an amateur for Penzance

Penzance F.C.

Penzance A.F.C. is a football club based in Penzance, Cornwall in the United Kingdom. They were established in 1888 and were founding members of the South Western League in 1951, and maintained membership of that league until 2007 when they joined the newly formed South West Peninsula League...

, and made 20 appearances for the County of Cornwall XI, Gazzard signed pro forms at West Ham United in May 1949. He made his debut on the first day of the 1949-50

1949-50 in English football

The 1949–50 season was the 70th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:Portsmouth retained the First Division title by one of the narrowest margins in history ahead of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C....

 season, against Luton Town

Luton Town F.C.

Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. The club currently competes in the fifth tier of English football, the Conference National, for the third consecutive season during the 2011–12 season.Formed in 1885, it was...

, and played in a total of 37 games that season. He played in 41 games in 1950-51

1950-51 in English football

The 1950–51 season was the 71st season of competitive football in England.-Overview:Tottenham Hotspur won their first League Championship, while Newcastle United defeated Blackpool 2–0 to win their fourth F.A. Cup. They would win it twice more over the next four seasons. The league was expanded...

, one game short of being an ever present.

Gazzard moved to Brentford in 1954, after sustaining a cartilage

Cartilage

Cartilage is a flexible connective tissue found in many areas in the bodies of humans and other animals, including the joints between bones, the rib cage, the ear, the nose, the elbow, the knee, the ankle, the bronchial tubes and the intervertebral discs...

 injury and losing his first team place to John Dick

John Dick (1930-2000)

John Dick was a Scottish footballer.-Career:Born in Glasgow, he became a prolific goalscorer and became the first West Ham United player to play for the Scottish national team. He joined West Ham from Crittall Athletic while on National Service. Between 1953 and 1962, Dick made 364 appearances...

. He later returned to Penzance as an amateur.

His two sons, Paul and Roger, also played for Penzance, and grandson Carl

Carl Gazzard

Carl Gazzard is a former English cricketer who played for Somerset. He was a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper.He made his debut for Cornwall in 1998 and was their regular wicket-keeper in 1998 and 1999...

 is a county cricket

County cricket

County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...

er for Somerset

Somerset County Cricket Club

Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...

.

External links

• Gerry Gazzard at westhamstats.info