Joseph John Hills (14 October 1897 – 21 September 1969) was an English

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er, Test match umpire and professional

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 lea ...

Life and career

Born in London in 1897, Hills served in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

with the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

and was awarded the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the British Armed Forces, armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, below commissioned o ...

for his bravery as a cabler and

telegraphist A telegraphist (British English), telegrapher (American English), or telegraph operator is a person who uses a telegraph key to send and receive Morse code messages in a telegraphy system. These messages, also called telegrams, can be transmitte ...

during the Battle of Amiens. Hills played professional football as a

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 ...

, moving to Wales when he was signed by

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

in 1924. He also played for Swansea Town and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

before a serious injury to his right arm in 1927 ended his career. Hills played 107 cricket matches for

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

between 1926 and 1931. A

wicket keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...

and right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

, he took 95

catches Catch may refer to: In sports * Catch (game), children's game * Catch (baseball), a maneuver in baseball * Catch (cricket), a mode of dismissal in cricket * Catch or reception (gridiron football) * Catch, part of a rowing stroke * Catch wrestlin ...

, completed four

stumpings Stumped is a method of dismissing a batter in cricket, in which the wicket-keeper puts down the wicket of the striker while the striker is out of their ground. It is governed by Law 39 of the Laws of Cricket. Being "out of their ground" m ...

, and scored 3474 runs at an average of 21.57 with a top score of 166 among his seven

centuries A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A ...

. In 1929 he shared an unbroken ninth-wicket partnership of 203 with

Johnnie Clay John Charles Clay (18 March 1898 – 11 August 1973) was a Welsh cricketer who played first-class cricket for Glamorgan from 1921 to 1949. He also played one Test match for England in 1935. Personal life and war service Clay was born in Bonvi ...

which is still a county record; at one stage they added 150 runs in 65 minutes. Glamorgan did not renew his contract after the 1931 season owing to the club's financial difficulties. Hills became an umpire, standing in 286 first-class matches between 1937 and 1956. He umpired the England v South Africa

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

in 1947. He died in Hampshire in 1969.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hills, Joe 1897 births 1969 deaths British Army personnel of World War I Recipients of the Military Medal Footballers from the Royal Borough of Greenwich People from Plumstead English cricketers Glamorgan cricketers English Test cricket umpires Wales cricketers English men's footballers Cardiff City F.C. players Fulham F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football goalkeepers Wicket-keepers 20th-century English sportsmen