Mark Travers

Mark Travers

Travers with AFC Bournemouth in 2019
Personal information
Full name	Mark Travers [1]
Date of birth	(1999-05-18) 18 May 1999 (age 24) [2]
Place of birth	Maynooth, Ireland [3]
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) [2]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	AFC Bournemouth
Number	42
Youth career
	Confey
	Lucan United
2014–2015	Cherry Orchard
2015–2016	Shamrock Rovers
2016–2017	AFC Bournemouth
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2017–	AFC Bournemouth	61	(0)
2017–2018	→ Weymouth (loan)	23	(1)
2021	→ Swindon Town (loan)	8	(0)
2023	→ Stoke City (loan)	13	(0)
International career‡
	Republic of Ireland U15
	Republic of Ireland U16
	Republic of Ireland U17
	Republic of Ireland U18
	Republic of Ireland U19
	Republic of Ireland U21
2019–	Republic of Ireland	4	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:21, 27 February 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:51, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Mark Travers (born 18 May 1999) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club AFC Bournemouth.

He has represented the Republic of Ireland at youth international level up until under-21 level as well as the Republic of Ireland senior team, earning his first cap in September 2019.

Club career

Early career

Travers’ first youth club was Confey in Leixlip, he then moved on to Lucan United, before spending a season at Cherry Orchard and 6 months at Shamrock Rovers. ^[3]

AFC Bournemouth

Travers signed for English club AFC Bournemouth in July 2016, aged 17. ^{[4] [5]} He joined Weymouth on loan in August 2017, scoring on his debut. ^{[4] [6]} The loan ended in January 2018. ^[7]

In July 2018 he signed a new "long-term" contract with Bournemouth. ^[8]

He made his debut for Bournemouth on 4 May 2019 in a 1–0 win over Tottenham Hotspur. ^[9] Upon doing so, he became the first teenage goalkeeper since Joe Hart in 2006 to start a Premier League match, and made a number of saves to help the club record its first ever victory over Tottenham, with Travers keeping a clean sheet and receiving Man of the Match for his performance. ^[10] He was later selected by BBC pundit Garth Crooks in his 'Team of the Week'. ^[11]

On 15 July 2019, Travers signed a new long term contract at Bournemouth. ^[12]

He moved on loan to Swindon Town in January 2021. ^{[13] [14]} He was recalled by Bournemouth on 11 February 2021, having made eight appearances. ^[15]

Following the departure of Asmir Begović, Travers began the 2021–22 season as Bournemouth's first choice goalkeeper, beginning with a 2–2 draw with West Brom on the opening day of the campaign. ^[16] Travers started all but one of the Cherries' opening 14 games, an unbeaten run which included a club record-setting six away games in a row without conceding a goal. ^[17] For his performances in September 2021, Travers was nominated for the club's player of the month award, losing out to Gary Cahill. ^[18] In June 2022 he signed a new five-year contract with Bournemouth. ^[19]

Travers joined Stoke City on loan for the 2023–24 season. ^{[20] [21]} He made 14 appearances for Stoke before he was recalled by Bournemouth on 27 October 2023 after an injury sustained by Neto. ^[22]

International career

Travers has played for Ireland from under-15 to under-19 youth levels, ^[4] and whilst a member of the under-21 team received his first call-up to the senior national team in March 2019. ^[23] He was called up again to the Republic of Ireland national football team senior squad in May 2019, for Ireland's 2020 European Qualifiers against Denmark and Gibraltar. ^[24]

Travers made his senior international debut on 10 September 2019, starting in a 3–1 win over Bulgaria at the Aviva Stadium. ^[25]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 27 February 2024

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		EFL Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
AFC Bournemouth	2017–18 [26]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2018–19 [9]	Premier League	2	0	0	0	0	0	—		2	0
	2019–20 [27]	Premier League	1	0	2	0	2	0	—		5	0
	2020–21 [28]	Championship	1	0	0	0	1	0	—		2	0
	2021–22 [29]	Championship	45	0	0	0	1	0	—		46	0
	2022–23 [30]	Premier League	12	0	1	0	2	0	—		15	0
	2023–24 [31]	Premier League	0	0	3	0	0	0	—		3	0
	Total		61	0	6	0	6	0	0	0	73	0
Weymouth (loan)	2017–18 [32]	Southern League Premier Division	23	1	2	0	—		1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	26	1
Swindon Town (loan)	2020–21 [28]	League One	8	0	0	0	0	0	—		8	0
Stoke City (loan)	2023–24 [31]	Championship	13	0	0	0	1	0	—		14	0
Career total			105	1	8	0	7	0	1	0	121	1

1. Appearance(s) in FA Trophy

International

As of match played 21 November 2023 ^{[33] [34]}

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Republic of Ireland	2019	2	0
	2020	0	0
	2021	1	0
	2023	1	0
Total		4	0

Honours

AFC Bournemouth

• Championship runner-up: 2021–22 ^[35]

Individual

• EFL Championship Golden Glove: 2021–22 ^[36]
• AFC Bournemouth Player of the Year: 2021–22 ^[37]

References

1. "2018/19 Premier League squads confirmed". Premier League. 3 September 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
2. Mark Travers at Soccerway. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
3. "'An unbelievable day' – Getting to know Irish teen Mark Travers after superb man of the match performance on debut". www.msn.com.
4. "Profile". AFC Bournemouth. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
5. "Profile". Weymouth F.C. 4 January 2018. Archived from the original on 28 January 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
6. Dan Rose (19 August 2017). "WATCH: Cherries goalkeeper Mark Travers scores winner on senior debut for loan club Weymouth". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
7. "Mark Travers returns to AFC Bournemouth". Weymouth F.C. 4 January 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
8. "Goalkeeper Mark Travers signs new long-term Cherries deal". Bournemouth Echo. 10 July 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
9. "Games played by Mark Travers in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
10. Tom Crocker (4 May 2019). "Nathan Ake heads in a late winner as AFC Bournemouth beat Tottenham". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
11. Garth Crooks (5 May 2019). "Garth Crooks' team of the week: Travers, Van Dijk, Loftus-Cheek, Rondon". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
12. "Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers signs new long-term deal". Sky Sports. 15 July 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
13. "Town snap up Bournemouth 'keeper Travers on loan". Swindon Advertiser.
14. "Swindon sign Bournemouth keeper Travers". BBC Sport.
15. "AFC BOURNEMOUTH RE-CALL GOALKEEPER MARK TRAVERS". www.swindontownfc.co.uk.
16. "AFC Bournemouth 2–2 West Bromwich Albion". BBC Sport. 6 August 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
17. "Cherries clean up to set new club record". AFC Bournemouth. 20 October 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
18. "Cahill named September POTM". AFC Bournemouth. 6 October 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
19. "Travers signs new five-year deal at Bournemouth". BBC Sport.
20. "Potters land goalkeeper Travers". Stoke City. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
21. "Stoke sign Bournemouth goalkeeper Travers on loan" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
22. "Mark Travers recalled by AFC Bournemouth". Stoke City. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
23. "Euro 2020 qualifiers: Republic of Ireland boss McCarthy hands three players first call-ups". BBC Sport. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
24. "AFC Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers named in provisional Republic of Ireland senior squad". Bournemouth Echo. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
25. "Fresh faces make the difference as Ireland eventually see off Bulgaria". The 42. 10 September 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
26. "Games played by Mark Travers in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
27. "Games played by Mark Travers in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
28. "Games played by Mark Travers in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
29. "Games played by Mark Travers in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
30. "Games played by Mark Travers in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
31. "Games played by Mark Travers in 2023/2024". Soccerbase. Centurycomm.
32. "Profile". Aylesbury United F.C. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
33. "Mark Travers". EU-Football.info. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
34. "Mark Travers". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
35. "AFC Bournemouth 1-0 Nottingham Forest". BBC Sport. 3 May 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
36. "Travers Wins Golden Glove". AFC Bournemouth. 7 May 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
37. "Player Of The Season Awards Handed Out". AFC Bournemouth. 8 May 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.

External links

• Profile at the AFC Bournemouth website