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Birthdate:
16.04.1904
Birthplace: Johannesburg, S-Africa
Other clubs: Benoni, Rustenburg, Pretoria, Transvaal FC (All four in South Africa), Aston Villa, Leeds; Hartlepools United (wartime guest)
Bought from: Transvaal FC
Signed for LFC: ŁN/A 14.12.1925
International debut: 20.10.1930 England vs. Northern Ireland / 02.11.1924 South Africa vs. Netherlands
International caps: England 3/1 - 28.03.1931 + South Africa 1 cap
Liverpool debut:
27.02.1926
Last appearance: 28.12.1935
Debut goal: 10.03.1926
Last goal: 09.11.1935
Contract expiry: January 1936
LFC league games/goals: 358 / 233
Total LFC games/goals: 377 / 241
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Player Notes:
One of the club's greatest-ever goalscorers; only Roger Hunt has scored more in league games for Liverpool but all of Hodgson's 233 league strikes came in the First Division - from 358 games, a fantastic goals-per-game ratio. Hodgson came to England as one of the youngest members of a South African touring side in October 1924 which beat Liverpool 2-5 and joined Liverpool roughly a year later. He played in 12 matches towards the end of the 1925-26 season, scoring 4 times, but that was just a taste of what was to come. Over the next nine seasons, he missed very few games in League and cup and scored prolifically throughout that period. It was a shame that this golden run coincided with a barren period for the club because his contribution to the Liverpool cause was massive and he deserved to end up with more than the handful of England and Football League representative honours he received. Hodgson who played once for the South African international team also qualified for England as both his parents were born there.
Hodgson was such a consistent performer that it is perhaps difficult to single out years that were extra-special for him, but perhaps the two seasons when he scored 30 or more First Division goals, 1928-29 & 1930-31, showed him at his peak. The 36 league goals he scored in the second of those two seasons set a club record that would not be beaten for over thirty years, until Roger Hunt came onto the scene. There were three hat-tricks that season in home games but perhaps it was the four goals he scored in an away match at Hillsborough that gave him most satisfaction of all?
Hodgson moved to Aston Villa in January 1936 at the age of 31. He got relegated to 2nd division at Villa and left the Midlands for Yorkshire when he joined struggling 1st division Leeds United in the second half of the 1936-37 season, scoring 6 goals in 13 games, helping Leeds to beat the drop. Leeds improved the following season where Hodgson continued to impress in the 1st division, 33 years of age, with 25 goals in 36 league games. He was still as prolific as ever in the final season of his career, scoring FIVE times when Leeds beat Leicester City 8-2 in October 1938. He scored 51 goals in 82 league games for Leeds in the 1st division and could have undoubtedly added to his tally if World War II hadn't intervened. Hodgson is one of the very few men to have scored over 300 times in Football League matches.
Hodgson was an all-round sportsman, having played 56 cricket games as a fast bowler in the Lancashire county championship. But football was his first love and it was no surprise that he progressed from player to manager by taking charge of team affairs at Port Vale in October 1946. He was there for over four years and saw them move to their current stadium, Vale Park, in 1950. With a promising managerial career still in its infancy, he died of cancer in Stoke-on-Trent on 14th June 1951 at the early age of 47. |
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