Bruce Bannister


Bruce Ian Bannister is an English retired professional footballer who played as a striker, and is also a businessperson in sports shoe and apparel sales and distribution.

Football career

Born in Bradford, Bannister played for Leeds United, Bradford City, Bristol Rovers, Plymouth Argyle, Hull City and USL Dunkerque.
At Bradford City, he was known for scoring a "wonder goal" in 1968, an overhead kick.
While at Bristol Rovers, Bannister and teammate Alan Warboys developed the 'Smash and Grab' method of football.

Business career

Bannister founded Sportsshoes in 1982. In 1985, Sportsshoes launched its mail order service, and later became one of the first retailers to launch an e-commerce website. The business was later taken over by Bannister's son Brett, and became an exclusively online and mail order operation.