Two players joined 'The Centurions Club' when Bristol Rovers hosted Reading in the Gas' final fixture at The Memorial Stadium of the 2024/25 season.
Scott Sinclair and Luke Thomas entered the fray as second-half substitutes to reach the landmark. Playing 100 league games for one club is something of an achievement in this day and age when players are frequently on the move.
The other player to have joined this exclusive ‘club’ during the season just ended is Connor Taylor, and he, like Sinclair and Thomas, is in his second spell with the club.
I’ve trawled through biographies of players who have made league appearances for the club since we entered the Football League back in 1920 and come up with what I believe to be a comprehensive list of those who have made 100 league appearances during their time with us.
It’s important to clarify that there are players who have made 100 appearances for the club in all competitions who don’t appear on my list. I’m told that true football statisticians differentiate between league and cup appearances, and so, not being a statistician myself, I’ve heeded the advice of those in the know!
As we are talking about 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 9 1920, in case you’re wondering).
The most popular date for centurions seems to have been August 31 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.
Some of those who missed out came tantalisingly close to reaching their century, none more so than Christian Edwards, who was stuck on 99 at the time of his departure and so doesn’t appear on my list.
Substitute league appearances are included in the total, and the record of the three players who have become centurions this season reads as follows (up to and including the penultimate league game of the 2024/25 season).
Taylor has now made 108 starts and eight substitute appearances. If you recall, his debut came at Mansfield Town in the opening day defeat at Field Mill on August 7 2021, when he began a season-long loan with us from his parent club, Stoke City.
He returned to the Potteries outfit for the 2022/23 season but signed for Rovers on a permanent basis one year later and is now a fixture at the heart of our defence.
Thomas, whose appearance against Reading was the 37th time he had entered the pitch as a Rovers substitute (he’s made 63 starts), also made his Rovers league debut alongside Taylor in the aforementioned fixture at Mansfield.
He had arrived in BS7 on a season-long loan from Barnsley and, like Taylor, returned to his parent club when the loan expired. Again, like Taylor, he signed for Rovers on a permanent basis in the summer of 2023.
Many of you reading this article may well cross-check my totals with the website that’s every statistician’s friend, ‘Soccerbase,’ and that shows Sinclair as having two fewer appearances than the 58 starts and 42 substitute appearances I have for him in a Rovers shirt.
However, that website doesn’t include the two substitute appearances made by the teenage Sinclair before he set off on his remarkable football journey. His debut, against Leyton Orient on Boxing Day 2004, was a fleeting one-minute cameo, enough to make him the second youngest player to appear in a league fixture for Rovers. He was to make one more appearance as a substitute before moving to Chelsea.
Goalkeeper Whatley, the first centurion on my list, played for Rovers in the Southern League before making the first of his 371 league appearances for the club, which included a run of 246 consecutive games.
Out of the current squad, James Wilson is the closest to reaching 100 league appearances, with the centre-back on 71.
Of the 1,025 players who have appeared in the league for Bristol Rovers to date, I make it that only 147 have gone on to complete their century.
Dave Stone comes in at number 50 on my list of centurions, and Justin Skinner is at 100; who will be number 150?
Words by Keith Brookman
