Tom Bolarinwa

Tom (Ayotomiwa) Bolarinwa
Personal information
Full name Ayotomiwa Oluwasheun Bolarinwa[1]
Date of birth (1990-01-21) 21 January 1990
Place of birth Greenwich, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position Winger, Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
Grimsby Town
Number 18
Youth career
2006–2007 Barnet
2007–2008 Croydon Athletic
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008 Dulwich Hamlet 6 (4)
2008–2010 Croydon Athletic 40 (13)
2010 Billericay Town 10 (5)
2010–2011 Kingstonian 10 (0)
2011 Suphanburi 15 (8)
2012 Bangkok
2013 Nonthaburi
2013 Nakhon Nayok 9 (1)
2014 Udon Thani 21 (7)
2015 Cray Wanderers 7 (1)
2015–2016 Sutton United 37 (11)
2016– Grimsby Town 14 (1)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 08:14, 23 November 2016 (UTC).


Tom Bolarinwa (born 21 January 1990) is an English professional footballer of Nigerian descent for League Two side Grimsby Town who plays as a Winger.

Primarily playing on the right-wing, he began his career at Barnet in 2006 where he was a youth trainee in the academy. He then switched to Croydon Athletic playing in their youth team for a season. A brief spell with Dulwich Hamlet, before playing two seasons back at Croyden where he helped them win promotion as champions. He then played ten games for Billericay Town and Kingstonian.

After a trial period with Wycombe Wanderers, he made a switch to Thailand, joining Thai Division 1 Club, Suphanburi, in his first season he made 15 appearances and scored 8 goals; further spells in the Thai divisions with Bangkok, Nakhon Nayok and Udon Thani where helped them attain second-place and qualification into the champions league.

After spending three years in the Thai leagues, Bolarinwa moved back to England where he spent the closing weeks of the 2014-15 season at Cray Wanderers, before a move to National League South side Sutton United. He was pivotal to the club being promoted as champions with a number of man of the match performances. His impressive form led to him earning a move to newly promoted League Two side Grimsby Town.

Club career

Bolarinwa was born in Greenwich, London. He started his football career in the Youth Alliance League with Barnet then went on to play senior football at Dulwich Hamlet making 6 appearances and scoring 4 goals. In 2008 he joined Croydon Athletic, as a right midfielder where he was in the winning team that won the Ryman Division 1 for the first time in their history.[2][3] During his time with Croydon Athletic he made 40 appearances, scoring 13 goals. In September 2010 Bolarinwa spent a short spell at Billericay Town where he made 10 appearances, scoring 5 goals, before being released on November 2010.[4] He then had a spell at Kingstonian where he made 10 appearances.[5]

Thai Leagues

After a trial period with Wycombe Wanderers, Bolarinwa joined Thai League 1 Club, Suphanburi. In his first season he made 15 appearances and scored 8 goals. In 2013 he played for Regional League Division 2 side Nakhon Nayok, he made 9 appearances and scored one goal.[6] In 2014 Bolarinwa joined Udon Thani where he made 21 appearances and scored 7 goals,[7] helping them finish in second place and qualification to the Champions League Round.[8]

Sutton United

Bolarinwa spent a few weeks with Isthmian League Division One North side Cray Wanderers. They won every game in which he played, making what had seemed an unlikely escape from relegation.[9] Bolarinwa then signed a two-year contract with National League South side Sutton United on a free transfer.[10] He made he debut for the club, coming off the bench in the 2–0 home defeat to Maidstone United.[11] Bolarwinra scored his first goal for the club on 19 September 2015 in the 2–0 away win at Weston-super-Mare, scoring the second goal in the 30th minute, a pass fed into the path of Bolarinwa midway in the Weston half from Craig Eastmond, Bolarinwa ran forward dinking inside and outside to avoid two challenges before striking a 25-yard low shot, which curled away from the out-stretched dive of Purnell into the far bottom corner of the net.[12]

Bolarinwa played a crucial role in Sutton United being promoted to the National League for the first time in sixteen years.[13] His efforts over the season earned him a place in the 2015–16 Vanarama Conference team of the year, alongside the league's outstanding players.[14]

Grimsby Town

Bolarinwa joined joined League Two side Grimsby Town on 15 June 2016 on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee.[15] He made his debut on 6 August 2016 in the opening game of the 2016–17 season in Grimsby's 2–0 home victory against Morecambe.[16]

Style of play

Bolarinwa primarily plays as a Winger, he can also play behind a striker as an attacking midfielder, as well as both flanks.[17] A very direct type of player, he is able to dribble at pace and use trickery to get past the opponents players, also he's able to hold the ball up to bring other players into play.[18]

Career statistics

As of match played on 22 November 2016.[19][20]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Sutton United2015–16[21]National League South3711103[lower-alpha 1]04111
Total 371110304111
Grimsby Town2016–17[22]League Two14110103[lower-alpha 2]0191
Total 141101030191
Career total 51122010606012
  1. Appearance(s) in FA Trophy
  2. Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy

Personal life

Bolarinwa has a younger brother, winger/right-back Moses Odubajo who plays for Premier League club Hull City, both are eligible to play for England or Nigeria respectively as they are of Nigerian descent.[23] Bolarinwa was orphaned at the age of 15 when his mother died of marlaria and from that age lived alone with his younger brother.[24][25]

Honours

Player

Croydon Athletic

Udon Thani

Sutton United

Individual

References

  1. "List of Players under Written Contract Registered Between 01/07/2015 and 31/07/2015" (PDF). The Football Association. 31 July 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  2. 1 2 Moody, Graham (20 April 2010). "Croydon Athletic promoted as champions". Croydon Guardian. London: Newsquest Media Group. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  3. "Player Profile - Croyden Athletic". Croyden Athletic F.C. Archived from the original on 20 September 2010.
  4. "Player movements". Billericay Town F.C. 1 November 2010. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  5. "Player Profile - Kingstonian". kingstonian.net. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  6. "Nakhon Nayok: Tom Bolarinwa". SMM Sport. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
  7. "Udon Thani F.C.: Former players". Udon Thani F.C. Archived from the original on 1 August 2016.
  8. 1 2 "Udon Thani F.C.: 2014-season". Udon Thani F.C. Archived from the original on 1 August 2016.
  9. "Cray Wanderers - A Complete Statistical Record". Cray 150 Publications. 2014. Retrieved 2014-10-31.
  10. "Trio Sign". The National League. Weybridge: 89 Media. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  11. "Sutton 0–2 Maidstone". Maidstone United F.C. 8 August 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  12. "Weston-super-Mare 0–2 Sutton". Maidstone United F.C. 19 September 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  13. 1 2 "Sutton United clinch promotion to the National League". BBC Sport. 23 April 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  14. 1 2 "U's recognised in league awards". Sutton United F.C. 12 June 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  15. Wood, Liam (30 June 2016). "Bolarinwa arrives at Blundell Park from Sutton United". Grimsby Telegraph. London: Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  16. "Grimsby 2–0 Morecambe". Sky Sports. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  17. "Mariners Player: Meet The Trio". Grimsby Town F.C. 1 July 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  18. Johnnie, Lowery (2 November 2015). "Bolarinwa is creating the positive vibes at the Lane". Streatham Guardian. London: Newsquest Media Group. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  19. Tom Bolarinwa career statistics at Soccerbase
  20. Tom Bolarinwa profile at Soccerway
  21. "T. Bolarinwa". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  22. "Games played by Tom Bolarinwa in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  23. Buckingham, Philip (27 May 2016). "Heartache of Hull City's Moses Odubajo who lost mum to malaria". Hull Daily Mail. London: Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  24. "Grimsby Town: James Berrett and Tom Bolarinwa join League Two club". BBC Sport. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  25. Macaskill, Grace (6 August 2016). "Premier League star's amazing rise after fending for himself since being orphaned at 13". The Daily Mirror. London: Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 8 August 2016.

External links

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