Christopher Hedworth (born 5 January 1964) is an English retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

centre-half. During a career of ten years in the 1980s and 1990s, Hedworth played for various clubs in the north of England as a slender centre-half. His reputation at Barnsley for shakiness and error-proneness led to him being something of a cult hero at the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

club, and he is renowned as one of a trio of goalkeepers fielded by Newcastle in a match in 1986. Hedworth started as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...

at Newcastle, signing professional terms in 1982. His debut came in October of that year, a 1–3 loss at

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

. A moment of note came on 21 April 1986 when, in a 1–8 loss to

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

, he was one of three goalkeepers fielded by Newcastle; a not-completely-fit Martin Thomas was taken off injured at half time – Newcastle had no back-up

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

on the bench, and so Hedworth played in goal, before injuring himself after less than 30 minutes. He was replaced by

Peter Beardsley Peter Andrew Beardsley (born 18 January 1961) is an English football coach and former footballer who played as a forward or midfielder. In 1987, he set a record transfer fee in the English game and represented his country 59 times between 1 ...

in goal. Hammers

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Alvin Martin Alvin Edward Martin (born 29 July 1958) is an English football manager, former professional footballer and pundit. As a player, he was a defender, playing most of his footballing career for West Ham United he appeared in 598 games for them, sc ...

scored a hat-trick, with one goal coming against each of the three keepers. It would be Hedworth's last game for the Magpies. He would go on to make nine league starts and one start in the League Cup before he moved on to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

on a free transfer in the summer of 1986. 25 appearances for the Tykes were unconvincing, and after two years Hedworth moved on to Halifax Town. He retired in 1992 after a similar two-year spell at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

References

External links

Toon 1892 – Chris Hedworth

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedworth, Chris 1964 births Living people Footballers from Wallsend Footballers from Newcastle upon Tyne English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Newcastle United F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players English Football League players