Gordon Hodgson (16 April 1904 – 14 June 1951) was a South African-born English sportsman, being best known for as a striker for Liverpool and also a first-class cricketer for Lancashire, he also excelled at Baseball.
Hodgson was spotted by Liverpool officials when touring England with South African side Transvaal and was signed by manager Matt McQueen on 14 December 1925 along with fellow countrymen Arthur Riley and James Gray. He made his debut against Manchester City at Maine Road on 27 February 1926 in a 1-1 draw, he opened his account eleven days later when he got a brace against the other Mancunian side and bitter rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford on 10 March, a game ended in a 2-all draw. He went on to play 12 more games during the run in to the end of his first season for the Reds scoring 4 goals.
The two goals against United were a taste of things to come, as Hodgson went from strength to strength in front of goal, scoring goals for fun, in fact, the only thing missing from what would have been a perfect career was honours; Liverpool of the day were not a team that challenged the top sides and were even in the shadow of the blue half of Liverpool, Everton.
Gordon scored 18 goals in his first full season but it was the 1930-31 season that was the one to remember for Hodgson as he broke the Anfield goalscoring record banging in 36 goals, all in the league, a feat not surpassed until the emergence of Roger Hunt in the 1960s.[2] This record followed the 32 he scored during the 1928-29 campaign. Hodgson also got 23 in 1928-29, 27 in 1931-32, 24 in 1928-29, 25 in 1933-34 and 29 in 1934-35, a truly remarkable record. During his time at the club he made 378 appearances, scoring a prolific 240 goals an average of a goal every 1.56 games. Hodgson's 17 hat-tricks is still a Liverpool record, his first hat-trick coming in the 21st, 55th and the 61st minutes of the First Division match against Sheffield United at Anfield on the 11 September 1926, the other 2 goals were scored by the player who eventually made way for Hodgson, Dick Forshaw.
The 1935-36 season proved to be the 31 year old Hodgson's final at Liverpool, he was selected 17 times and scored 9 goals, yet again a descent return. In January 1936 he was allowed to leave and signed for recently relegated Aston Villa for £3,000, his stay with Villa in the Second Division was a short one season quickly leaving for Leeds United in May 1937. While at Aston Villa, Hodgson scored 11 league goals in 28 league games.
At Leeds he showed that he still had what it took to score goals at the top level, in his first season at Leeds he played 13 times scoring 6 goals, the usual return everyone had come to expect from the talented Hodgson.[2] The following term was much the same with Gordon scoring 26 goals in 38 games including all 4 against his old Merseyside rivals Everton in a 4-4 draw at Elland Road on 26 February, he also hit 3 against Brentford on the 23 April at home, both hat-tricks were in 1938, he even got a goal at Anfield in a 1-1 draw with his former employers. The following season was much the same with Gordon hitting 21 in 33 including five in the 8-2 thrashing of Leicester City on 1 October 1938, this still remains a record for Leeds and has never even been equalled.
If it were not for the start World War II Hodgson would have gone on to surpass 100 games for the Yorkshire club, scoring plenty of goals whilst doing so. He also worked as the youth team coach at Leeds. Hodgson carried on playing during the war, guesting for Hartlepools United and York City.
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: £N/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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