Tony James (footballer)

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Tony James (born 9 October 1978 in Cwmbran) is a Welsh footballer who currently plays for Weymouth as a central defender.

James started his career at West Brom as a trainee but failed to secure a professional contract. He joined Hereford United for the 1998-99 season and became a first team regular first at Left Back and then in his preferred positon of centre back alongside Ian Wright. In eight seasons with Hereford he made 324 appearances and scored 19 goals. After Wright's departure, James became Hereford's club captain for the 2003-04 season, which was arguably his best season with Hereford. He was a key player in a team that came within touching distance of the Football League, starting all but 2 of Hereford's matches and scoring 9 goals, all from the penalty spot.

James suffered a groin injury halfway through the 2005-06 season and on his return, he had lost his first team place to Dean Beckwith. Thereafter he was frequently left on the bench in the latter part of the season and a recurrence of his injury meant he did not feature for the last nine games of the season. He was not offered a new contract and was subsequently snapped up by Weymouth on an initial one year contract. His final act for Hereford was to help lift the trophy after the 3-2 win over Halifax Town in the 2006 Conference National Playoff Final.