Gordon Hodgson

Gordon Hodgson ( born April 16, 1904 in Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa, † 14 July 1951 in Stoke -on-Trent ) was a native of South Africa English athletes. He played football professionally, cricket and baseball and also worked as a football coach in later years.

As a professional football player Hodgson worked mainly at Liverpool. He is considered one of the most important players of the club in the interwar period, which was mostly characterized by the dominance of local rivals Everton. The attacker has been referred to as " response to Dixie Dean".

Life

Gordon Hodgson was born in 1904 of English parents in Johannesburg, which was then part of the British Empire. He first played football at FC Transvaal. In 1924, he played a game for the South African national team.

In 1924, Hodgson toured with his national team of England, beating Liverpool 5-2, whereby the club were aware of him. Together with Arthur Riley and James Gray, he signed in December 1925 a contract with the Reds.

With his gates Hodgson broke in the following years the club records. In the season 1930/31 alone, he scored 36 goals this season, a record that should only be broken by Roger Hunt in the 1970s. His personal best of 17 hat-tricks in the Liverpool jersey still exists. From 1927 to 1935, he was seven times internal scorer of the club and was only surpassed in 1930 by Jim Smith. In total he scored in 358 First Division games 233 goals, which in turn is only surpassed by Roger Hunt.

In his time at Anfield, Hodgson also played first-class cricket for Lancashire and was successful in baseball. In cricket, he brought it 50 first-class games and probably could be more successful, but he devoted himself primarily to the football.

For the English national Hodgson was eligible to play due to its originating from England parents. He brought it to the national team in three games in which he scored a goal.

In January 1936, the 31 -year-old for £ 3000 was sold to Aston Villa. His professional career, he finished at Leeds United, for whom he scored 51 goals in 82 First Division games, five of them alone in a match against Leicester City. In the period of the Second World War, he also played for Hartlepools United.

In the postwar period Hodgson worked as coach of third division side FC Port Vale, a position which he held until his death. He died in 1951 at the age of 47 years.