Fitz Hall

Football player infobox
playername = Fitz Hall


fullname = Fitz Benjamin Hall
height = height|ft=6|in=4
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1980|12|20|df=y
cityofbirth = London
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = Queens Park Rangers
clubnumber = 5
position = Defender
youthyears = 1997–2000
youthclubs = West Ham United
years = 2000–2001
2001–2002
2002–2003
2003–2004
2004–2006
2006–2008
2008–
clubs = Barnet
Chesham United
Oldham Athletic
Southampton
Crystal Palace
Wigan Athletic
Queens Park Rangers
caps(goals) = 00 (0)
0? (?)
41 (4)
11 (0)
75 (3)
25 (0)
20 (2)
pcupdate = 4 October 2008
ntupdate =

Fitz Benjamin Hall (born December 20 1980, Walthamstow, London) is an English footballer who plays for Queens Park Rangers of the Football League Championship. He is a central defender who can also play as a central midfielder.

Club career

Early career

Hall began his career as a West Ham United youth player but was released at the age of 15, on the same day as Paul Konchesky, Bobby Zamora and Jlloyd Samuel.He was also once told that he wasn't good enough to become a professional footballer but found his lucky break through a friend that got him a trial at Barnet F.C. [Sam Pilger (October 2003). "The Boy's A Bit Special". FourFourTwo (110): 31.  ] He then joined Barnet as part of a Youth Training Scheme, before moving to non-league Chesham United under the management of Bob Dowie.

Oldham Athletic

Hall's performances at Chesham came to the attention of Dowie's brother Iain, manager of Oldham Athletic, who bought him for £30,000 in the 2002 close season. Hall was sold to Premiership side Southampton a year later for £250,000 when Oldham faced a bad financial predicament. However, he did not manage to break into Southampton's first team on a regular basis.

Crystal Palace

Hall re-joined Iain Dowie at Crystal Palace at the beginning of the 2004–05 season for £1.5m,cite news| title = Hall joins Palace
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/3922657.stm| publisher = BBC Sport| date = 2004-08-12| accessdate = 2007-08-04] and went straight into the first team for the club's first season back in the Premiership.

In August 2005, Hall was appointed team captain of Palace, replacing Michael Hughes following the club's relegation back to the Championship. Many fans felt that Hall's performance was being hindered by the burden of captaincy,Fact|date=January 2008 and after several poor performances, and several yellow cards, Hughes was re-appointed team captain in January 2006.

Wigan

Hall moved from Palace to Premiership side Wigan Athletic for an undisclosed fee on June 26 2006.cite news| title = Wigan sign Palace defender Hall| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wigan_athletic/5116892.stm| publisher = BBC Sport| date = 2006-06-26| accessdate = 2007-08-04] New Palace boss Peter Taylor cited a £3m get-out clause in Hall's contract as the reason for the transfer.Fact|date=January 2008

Queens Park Rangers

Hall was one of a number of players brought in by Championship side Queens Park Rangers during the early part of the January 2008 transfer window. He signed a four and a half year contract, after Rangers paid an undisclosed fee. Hall scored his first goal for Queens Park Rangers on the first game of 2008/2009 season against Barnsley F C, scoring his second two minutes later, before having a penalty saved for a hat-trick.

Nickname

His nickname is "One Size", as a pun on the phrase 'One Size Fits All'. It was given to him by regular Boundary Park sufferer Garfield St John Armitt

Trivia

As a seventeen-year-old he acted in a minor role in "The Fifth Element" playing a twelve-year-old. [ [http://football.guardian.co.uk/theknowledge/story/0,,2197545,00.html The Guardian] ]

Notes

References

*cite journal|author = Sam Pilger|year = 2003|month = October|title = The Boy's A Bit Special|journal = FourFourTwo|issue = 110|pages = 31

External links

* [http://www.qpr.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10373~22239,00.html Fitz Hall player profile] at qpr.co.uk
* [http://www.wiganlatics.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10429~22239,00.html Fitz Hall player profile] at wiganlatics.co.uk
*soccerbase|id=30801|name=Fitz Hall