Gerald Archibald Hitchens (8 October 1934 – 13 April 1983) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a centre forward.

Early career

Hitchens was born in the village of

Rawnsley, Staffordshire Rawnsley is an area of Cannock Chase District, Staffordshire, England. It is located between Hazelslade and Prospect Village. Rawnsley is a former mining hamlet and was served by the mineral line from Hednesford to Burntwood which carried minera ...

, near

Cannock Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolv ...

, and began his career as a coal miner. He played in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

with

Highley Highley is a large village in Shropshire, England, on the west bank of the River Severn and 7 miles south east of Bridgnorth. The closest cities being Wolverhampton and Birmingham. History Highley began as a rural farming community, includin ...

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 West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

and Aston Villa, Hitchens moved to Cardiff City in January 1955 for a fee of £1,500. Hitchens got off to a good start by scoring within three minutes of the kick-off when making his League debut against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in April 1955. Hitchens was then playing inside-forward but he subsequently took over the centre-forward berth and was top scorer in the subsequent two seasons. Hitchens moved on to Aston Villa in 1957 for £22,500, where he spent four seasons, scoring 96 goals in 160 appearances. He made his debut for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1961, scoring after just 90 seconds in an 8–0 drubbing of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and two weeks later scored twice more in Rome as England beat

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

3–2. This brought him to the attention of

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

, who signed him in the summer of 1961 for £85,000. Hitchens was Internazionale's top scorer with 16 goals in his first season. He played for England in the

1962 World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place bet ...

in Chile, and won a total of seven caps, scoring five goals. When chosen to appear for England in the World Cup, Hitchens became the first Englishman to represent his country while on the books of a foreign club. Inter won Serie A in 1963, making him the second Englishman to win the Italian title after Jimmy Greaves and the last until

Ashley Young Ashley Simon Young (born 9 July 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger or full-back for Premier League club Aston Villa, where he is club captain. Young started his career at Watford and made his first senior appea ...

did so for the same club in 2021. However, when Alf Ramsey took over as England manager, Hitchens' international spell came to a halt, Ramsey preferring to pick home-based players. Nevertheless, Hitchens stayed in Italy for nine years, also playing for

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

and Cagliari. After retiring from the professional game in 1971, he played for

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

and Merthyr Tydfil before moving to live in Wales, managing an ironworks in

Pontypridd () ( colloquially: Ponty) is a town and a community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Geography comprises the electoral wards of , Hawthorn, Pontypridd Town, 'Rhondda', Rhydyfelin Central/Ilan ( Rhydfelen), Trallwng ( Trallwn) and Treforest (). ...

before moving north to

Holywell Holywell may refer to: * Holywell, Flintshire, Wales * Holywell, Swords, Ireland * Holywell, Bedfordshire, England * Holywell, Cambridgeshire, England * Holywell, Cornwall, England * Holywell, Dorset, England * Holywell, Eastbourne, East Susse ...

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

, in 1977 to run his brother-in-law's timber supply firm near

Prestatyn Prestatyn is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Historically a part of Flintshire, it is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. Prestatyn has a population of 19,085, History Prehistory There is evidence that ...

. 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 collapsed and was taken to

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

General Hospital but pronounced dead on arrival. His ashes were interred in Holywell on 20 April 1983. He was 48.

Career statistics

Honours

Cardiff City *

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the mos ...

: 1955–56 Aston Villa *

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

: 1959–60 Inter Milan *

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

: 1962–63 Torino *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

runner-up: 1962–63, 1963–64

References

External links

Nobok

BBC North East Wales — Hall of Fame
* Cris Freddi, ''The England Football Fact Book'', Guinness, 1991. . * Douglas Lamming, "English Football Internationalists' Who's Who". (1990 Hatton Press), pages 130–131 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hitchens, Gerry 1934 births 1983 deaths Association football forwards English footballers Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Inter Milan players Torino F.C. players Atalanta B.C. players Cagliari Calcio players Worcester City F.C. players Merthyr Tydfil F.C. players Serie A players England international footballers England under-23 international footballers 1962 FIFA World Cup players English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy English Football League players English Football League representative players Chicago Mustangs (1967–68) players United Soccer Association players English expatriates in Italy British coal miners People from Cannock Chase District English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Sportspeople from Staffordshire Sport deaths in Wales