Gareth Stuart Gwillim is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 professional footballer who plays for AFC Wimbledon

AFC Wimbledon

AFC Wimbledon is a professional English football club that traces its origins to Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton. Based at Kingsmeadow, Kingston upon Thames, the club are members of Football League Two, the fourth tier of English football....

, as a left back

Defender (association football)

Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....

.

Career

Hailing from Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, Gwillim began his career as a junior at Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace F.C.

Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...

, before moving into non-League football, playing for such teams as Farnborough Town, Ashford Town

Ashford Town F.C. (Kent)

Ashford United F.C. are an English football club based in Ashford, Kent. The 'new' United was formed in 2011 . Between 1930 and 2010 the town was represented by Ashford Town FC, before it ultimately went into administration...

, Bishop's Stortford

Bishop's Stortford F.C.

Bishop's Stortford F.C. is an English football club based in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. The club are currently members of the Conference North and play at Woodside Park.-History:The club was established in 1874...

 and Histon

Histon F.C.

Histon Football Club is an English football club based in the twin villages of Histon and Impington, approximately north of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. From the 2007–08 season they competed in the Conference National, the highest level that the club has ever reached in the English football league...

.

After Histon rejected a formal approach from Dagenham & Redbridge

Dagenham & Redbridge F.C.

Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club , informally known as Daggers, is an English association football club based in Dagenham, in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, East London. It was formed in 1992 after a merger between Redbridge Forest and Dagenham...

 in November 2009, Gwillim eventually signed for Dagenham & Redbridge in June 2010 on a two year deal. Gwillim made his professional debut on 31 August 2010, in a 0-1 defeat in the Football League Trophy

Football League Trophy

The Football League Trophy, currently known as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football knock-out competition open to the 48 clubs in Football League One and Football League Two, the bottom two divisions in the four fully professional top...

 against Charlton Athletic

Charlton Athletic F.C.

Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...

. After the match, Gwillim publicly announced his plans to usurp Damien McCrory

Damien McCrory

Damien Paul McCrory is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Dagenham & Redbridge.First signing professional forms with Plymouth Argyle in 2008, he spent the next two years on loan at Port Vale and Grimsby Town, before joining Dagenham & Redbridge in 2010...

 as the club's first-choice left back.

Gwillim made his debut in the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 on 21 September 2010.

On 13 January 2010, Gwillim agreed a loan deal with AFC Wimbledon

AFC Wimbledon

AFC Wimbledon is a professional English football club that traces its origins to Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton. Based at Kingsmeadow, Kingston upon Thames, the club are members of Football League Two, the fourth tier of English football....

, playing with them in the 2011 Conference play-off final.

Gwillim signed permanently for AFC Wimbledon

AFC Wimbledon

AFC Wimbledon is a professional English football club that traces its origins to Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton. Based at Kingsmeadow, Kingston upon Thames, the club are members of Football League Two, the fourth tier of English football....

 in July 2011. On 3 September, Gwillim scored his first ever goal for the club in a league game against Port Vale

Port Vale F.C.

Port Vale Football Club is an English football club currently playing in Football League Two. They are based in Burslem, Staffordshire — one of six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The club's traditional rivals in the city are Stoke City, and games between the two clubs are known as...

.