Researching Bert Hoyle

Hoyle was born in Baildon, West Yorkshire, and began his career with local side Bradford Park Avenue, joining them in 1936 aged sixteen, but left to join the armed forces without having made his League debut. During the Second World War he continued to play football in the services while serving in Italy, Yugoslavia and Greece.

On the conclusion of the war he returned to professional football by joining Wolverhampton Wanderers in May 1946, but as with Bradford he did not play any League games for them and he left after only three months to join Exeter City, with whom he finally made his League debut at the age of 26. During four years with The Grecians he made 82 appearances in the Football League, sharing the goalkeeping duties with Barney Singleton.

Bristol Rovers paid Exeter a transfer fee of £350 for his services in 1953 and he became a fans' favourite at Eastville Stadium thanks to his outgoing personality. He became known for chatting with the fans behind the goal before, during and after matches, and after revealing a fondness for oranges (he always placed one in the back of the net as a lucky charm) he was inundated with gifts of the fruit at every home game, usually thrown by the spectators behind the goals (not an easy feat at Eastville Stadium where a greyhound track lengthened the distance to the goal line). He played in 105 League games for Rovers in just over two and a half seasons, but his career was brought to a premature end when he was involved in a car crash while driving home to Exeter following an away game against Bristol City in February 1953. He later returned to playing however with non-League side Exmouth Town.

Hoyle played in an era when many footballers had to take second jobs during the summer, and Hoyle worked on local farms during the close-season throughout his career. After retiring, he ran The Ship Inn, a pub in Cockwood, Devon. He died in Dawlish on 6 July 2003, aged 83.