Vince Hilaire

Vince Hilaire

Personal information
Full name	Vincent Mark Hilaire
Date of birth	10 October 1959 (1959-10-10)
Place of birth	Forest Hill, London, England
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1977–1984	Crystal Palace	255	(29)
1982	→ San Jose Earthquakes (loan)	22	(1)
1984	Luton Town	6	(0)
1984–1988	Portsmouth	146	(25)
1988–1989	Leeds United	44	(6)
1989–1990	→ Stoke City (loan)	5	(1)
1990–1991	Stoke City	10	(2)
1991–1992	Exeter City	33	(4)
Total		499	(67)
National team
1979–1982	England U21	9	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Vincent Mark Hilaire (born 10 October 1959 in Forest Hill, London) is a retired professional footballer who played in the Football League for Crystal Palace, Luton Town, Portsmouth, Leeds United, Stoke City and Exeter City. He was one of the first established black players in English football.

Career

Hilaire began his career with Crystal Palace as a 17 year old in a 3–2 defeat at Lincoln City in March 1977 and rose to prominence with the side prophesied to be the "Team of the Eighties" after winning the Second Division championship title in 1978–79. He made over 255 league appearances for Crystal Palace, scoring 29 goals, and was Supporters 'Player of The Year' in 1979 and 1980. He also played one summer season in the NASL with the San Jose Earthquakes in 1982.

He joined Luton Town in July 1984 but made only six appearance before being transferred to Portsmouth a few months later in November 1984, where he made 146 appearances, scoring 25 goals. He moved to Leeds United in the summer of 1988, playing 51 games and scoring seven goals, then moved on to Stoke City in November 1989 on loan, joining them on a permanent transfer in November 1990. He later joined Exeter City in 1991 where he made 33 appearances, scoring four goals, in the 1991–92 season. He won international caps for England Youth, B and U21, and although he was a regular contender for senior international honours, he never quite made the full England squad.

He was a professional footballer at a time when racism was rife in English football. He said about a match at Vale Park in 1976, "After about 20 minutes, the manager, then Terry Venables, told me to go and have a warm-up. I came out of the dug-out, and I started jogging around the touchline. I couldn't believe the abuse that was coming at me... animal noises and all the names you think of calling a black person. Any name under the sun. And it frightened me a bit, so I couldn't wait to get back in the dug-out. And I thought, 'Well, if this is the sort of reception I'm going to get, then I don't really want to know'".

External links

• Profile at Neil Brown's player database
• All Competitions Career Stats at Leeds-fans.org