Gerry Hitchens

Gerry Hitchens
Personal information
Full nameGerald Archibald Hitchens
Date of birth(1934-10-08)8 October 1934
Place of birthRawnsley, Staffordshire, England
Date of death13 April 1983(1983-04-13) (aged 48)
Place of deathHope, Clwyd, Wales
Playing positionCentre forward
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1952–1953Highley Miners Welfare
1953–1955Kidderminster Harriers14(6)
1955–1957Cardiff City95(40)
1957–1961Aston Villa132(78)
1961–1962Internazionale39(17)
1962–1965Torino89(28)
1965–1967Atalanta58(10)
1967→ Chicago Mustangs (loan)?(1)
1967–1969Cagliari19(4)
1969–1971Worcester City51(25)
1971Merthyr Tydfil6(0)
National team
1961–1962England7(5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Gerald Archibald "Gerry" Hitchens (8 October 1934 – 13 April 1983) was an English footballer, who played as a centre forward.[1][2]

Early Career

Hitchens was born in the village of Rawnsley, Staffordshire, near Cannock, and began his career as a coal miner. He played in Shropshire with Highley Youth Club and Highley Miners Welfare between 1952 and 1953. He appeared in a county cup final for the Miners at Aggborough, the home stadium of local club Kidderminster Harriers. His performance was being watched by the Harriers club secretary Ted Gamson, who went on to offer Hitchens a contract in September 1953. After several seasons in the reserves, Hitchens played fourteen games for the first team, scoring six goals.

Professional Career

Despite interest from West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa, Hitchens moved to Cardiff City in January 1955 for a fee of £1,500 and later moved on to Aston Villa in 1957 for £22,500, where he spent four seasons, scoring 96 goals in 160 appearances.[3][4]

He made his debut for England in 1961, scoring after just 90 seconds in an 8–0 drubbing of Mexico, and two weeks later scored twice more in Rome as England beat Italy 3–2. This brought him to the attention of Internazionale, who signed him in the summer of 1961 for £85,000 as part of a spate of British exports (Jimmy Greaves, Denis Law and Joe Baker also moved to Italy that season). He played for England in the 1962 World Cup in Chile, and won a total of seven caps, scoring five goals. However when Alf Ramsey took over as England manager, Hitchens' international spell came to a halt—Ramsey preferring to pick home-based players.[5][6][7]

Nevertheless, Hitchens stayed in Italy for nine years (a record which still stands in the Guinness Book of Records), also playing for Torino, Atalanta and Cagliari.

After retiring from the professional game in 1971, he played for Worcester City and Merthyr Tydfil before moving to live in Wales, managing an ironworks in Pontypridd before moving north to Holywell, Flintshire, in 1977 to run his brother-in-law's timber supply firm near Prestatyn.

He died playing in 1983 during a charity football match for a Mold-based firm of solicitors at Castell Alun sports ground in Hope. Seconds after heading a cross over the bar, Hitchens and was taken to Wrexham General Hospital but pronounced dead on arrival. His ashes were interred in Holywell on 20 April 1983. He was 48.[8]

Playing career

Club performanceLeagueCupLeague CupTotal
SeasonClubLeagueAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
EnglandLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotal
1954–55Cardiff CityFirst Division21mn--mn
1955–563615mn--mn
1956–574121mn--mn
1957–58Second Division163mn--mn
Career totalmnmn--mn
1957–58Aston VillaFirst Division201021--2211
1958–59351662--4118
1959–60Second Division362352--4125
1960–61First Division41295210115642
Career total13278187101116096
ItalyLeagueCoppa ItaliaEuropeTotal
1961–62Inter MilanSerie A341600323718
1962–635111--62
Career total391711324320
1962–63TorinoSerie A2411XXXXXXXXXXXX
1963–64339XXXXXXXXXXXX
1964–65328XXXXXXXXXXXX
Career total8928XXXXXXXXXXXX
1965–66AtalantaSerie A336XXXXXXXXXXXX
1966–67254XXXXXXXXXXXX
Career total5810XXXXXXXXXXXX
1967–68CagliariSerie A174XXXXXXXXXXXX
1968–6920XXXXXXXXXXXX
Career total194XXXXXXXXXXXX

Honours

Cardiff City

  • Welsh Cup
    • Winners: 1956

Aston Villa

  • Second Division
    • Winners: 1960
  • FA Cup
    • Semi-finalists: 1959, 1960

Inter Milan

  • Serie A
    • Winners: 1963
    • Runners-up: 1962

Torino

  • European Cup Winners' Cup
    • Semi-finalists: 1965

Cagliari

References

  1. Jump up ^ "Goal.com's Top 50 English Players: Gerry Hitchens (47)". Goal.com. 30 April 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2012. 
  2. Jump up ^ "Gerry Hitchens". Birmingham Mail. 28 January 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2012. 
  3. Jump up ^ "Player who went from miner to international « Express & Star". Expressandstar.com. 30 May 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2012. 
  4. Jump up ^ Mat Kendrick (7 November 2009). "Aston Villa legends remember Gerry Hitchens five goal salvo against Charlton in a record 11–1 win". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 15 November 2012. 
  5. Jump up ^ "Aston Villa legend Gerry Hitchens' life story published". Birmingham Mail. 13 May 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2012. 
  6. Jump up ^ "The England class of '62 – a World (Cup) away from Capello's millionaire set | Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. 9 October 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2012. 
  7. Jump up ^ Darren Devine. "Lifestyle – Books – First biography of Cardiff City hero Gerry Hitchens". WalesOnline. Retrieved 15 November 2012. 
  8. Jump up ^ Terry Phillips. "FootballNation – Football News – From mining to Milan – Hitchens did City proud". WalesOnline. Retrieved 13 April 2014. 

External links

  • Nobok
  • BBC North East Wales — Hall of Fame
  • Cris Freddi, The England Football Fact Book, Guinness, 1991. ISBN 0-85112-991-9.
  • Douglas Lamming, "English Football Internationalists' Who's Who". (1990 Hatton Press), pages 130–131
England squad – 1962 FIFA World Cup
Authority control

Source :
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