Ovens Gilbert Image 1 Queens Park Rangers 1913

Description

Bristol born left back Gilbert Ovens began his senior football career with Southern League club Bristol Rovers in 1904 but was not a part of their team (at least on a regular basis) that won The Southern League Championship in 1904-05, when he played just one match (at centre forward) and none at all the following season. Ovens played 66 matches for The Pirates over six years at Eastville, mainly at left back but sometimes at centre half, and was then signed by First Division club Chelsea in 1910, but his stay at Stamford Bridge was brief and he didn’t make their first eleven before moving back to The Southern League with Queens Park Rangers. It’s uncertain how much he was involved as QPR won the Southern League Championship in 1912, but he remained with Rangers prior to the suspension of peacetime football in May 1915 due to the onset of the First World War, which effectively ended his career. During the War he served in the Armed Forces but he didn’t resume his career thereafter.