Roger Hunt

This article is about the English footballer. For the fictional character in Willard Price's "Adventure" series, see Hal and Roger Hunt

Roger Hunt MBE (born 20 July 1938 in Golborne, Lancashire) was a footballer whose predatory instincts made him one of the English game's most feared and respected strikers.

Life and playing career

Hunt played for Stockton Heath, Bury, Stockton for a 2nd time, Devizes Town and Stockton again before manager Phil Taylor signed him for Liverpool on 29 July 1958. He made his debut and scored his first goal for the club under new manager Bill Shankly on 9 September 1959 in a Second Division fixture at Anfield against Scunthorpe United; Hunt scored in the 64th minute to give the Reds a 2-0 victory. This goal would be the first of many - he would go on to score 245 goals for the club. Roger Hunt was a major factor in the Reds success under Shankly in the early 1960s, gaining promotion to the First Division in 1962, after the club had finished 3rd or 4th, and thus just outside the promotion spots for five consecutive years from 1956 to 1961. Hunt appeared in 41 of the 42 league games and scored 41 goals in season 1961-1962, which was a remarkable goal agame average. His goals helped propel Liverpool to a comfortable 8 point title win over runners-up Leyton Orient and included 5 hat-tricks, coming against Leeds United, Walsall, Swansea, former club Bury and Middlesbrough. It was a similar story in 1963/64 and 1965/66, with Hunt again the top scorer (as he was for 8 straight seasons) as Liverpool won the League championship, scoring 31 goals from 41 games and 30 goals from 37 appearances respectively. In between the 2 titles,1965, he was instrumental in the side doing something no other Liverpool team had managed to do in the clubs 72 year history, namely winning the FA Cup. Hunt scored 4 times in a cup run that saw W.B.A, Stockport County, Bolton Wanderers, Leicester City and Chelsea all fall by the wayside as Liverpool reached the final for the first time since 1950. After a goal-less 90 minutes, Hunt scored the opening goal in the 93rd minute as the Reds recorded a 2-1 victory over Leeds at Wembley to finally take the prestigious FA Cup back to Anfield for the first time. It was also during this period that Roger Hunt set a record that can never be equalled on 22 August 1964, when Arsenal visited champions Liverpool for a league match with Hunt scoring after 11 minutes in a 3-2 home win. Although there was nothing special in the actual goal, it was the first ever goal seen on the B.B.C's flagship football highlights programme Match of the Day. Hunt was called upon 34 times for his country, with his debut was given to him by Walter Winterbottom whilst he was 2nd division player, on 4 April 1962 in a friendly against Austria at Wembley, when he also scored his first goal at international level as England won 3-1. He then went to the 1962 World Cup finals in Chile, albeit without being selected to play. Although Hunt had won 2 league titles and the holy grail for Liverpool fans at the time, the FA Cup, it was with England that his greatest footballing achievement would come. England had been given the go ahead to host the 1966 FIFA World Cup and Hunt, along with club mates Ian Callaghan and Gerry Byrne were selected for the 22 man squad by manager Alf Ramsey.

World Cup Winner

Hunt was one of three forwards selected for the tournament, and such was his ability, that it was the great Jimmy Greaves and not Hunt who lost his place in the first XI to the 24 year old West Ham United forward, Geoff Hurst during the finals. Hunt played in all 6 games, scoring three times, as England went on to win the Jules Rimet trophy after a memorable 4-2 extra time win over West Germany in the World Cup Final at Wembley. Roger Hunt is the player whom strike partner Hurst always mentions when discussing his controversial second goal in the final when the ball hit the crossbar and bounced down - Hurst always says that Hunt, the closest player to the ball, would have followed up to score himself if he'd been in any doubt, but he turned away in celebration of a certain goal. Back in the domestic game Shankly's all conquering Reds team of the 1960s was beginning to age and be replaced, and this included Hunt, who after 492 appearances and 245 goals was allowed to leave on 16 December 1969 to join Bolton Wanderers, with whom he played 76 games and scored 24 goals. Such was Hunt's natural talent in front of goal only Ian Rush has since surpassed his goalscoring total for Liverpool, though Rush scored fewer League goals than Hunt who still holds that particular Liverpool Football Club record. After retiring from football, Hunt formed a successful haulage company and became a sitting member of the pools panel, who predict the results of games affected due to adverse weather in order for pools participants to be still able to win the prizes available. In 2000, Hunt joined fellow 1966 heroes the late Alan Ball, George Cohen, Nobby Stiles and Ray Wilson in receiving the MBE, after a campaign by sections of the media surprised by the lack of recognition for their part in England's biggest day in football - their other six team mates, plus manager Alf Ramsey, already having received honours of one form or another. Roger Hunt was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2006, recognising his achievements in the English game. He now runs a joinery company and was voted at No.13 by Liverpool fans on the official Liverpool Football Club web site (www.liverpoolfc.tv) in the 100 Players Who Shook The Kop poll, also in 2006. He continues amongst supporters of Liverpool FC to be known as "Sir" Roger Hunt, despite his continuing lack of a Knighthood from the reigning monarch.

Honours

• Division 2 (Level 2): 1962
• Division 1 (Level 1): 1964, 1966
• Charity Shield: 1964, 1965, 1966
• FA Cup: 1965
• World Cup: 1966
• Cup Winners' Cup: Runner-up 1966
• European Championship: Third place 1968

External links

• Official Liverpool FC profile
• LFCHistory.net profile
• Article at Timesonline.co.uk

•  • e England squad - 1962 FIFA World Cup
1 Springett • 2 Armfield • 3 Wilson • 4 Robson • 5 Swan • 6 Flowers • 7 Connelly • 8 Greaves • 9 Hitchens • 10 Haynes • 11 Charlton • 12 Hodgkinson • 13 Kevan • 14 Anderson • 15 Norman • 16 Moore • 17 Douglas • 18 Hunt • 19 Peacock • 20 Eastham • 21 Howe • 22 Banks • Coach: Winterbottom

•  • e England squad - 1966 FIFA World Cup Champions (1st Title)
1 Banks • 2 Cohen • 3 Wilson • 4 Stiles • 5 J. Charlton • 6 Moore • 7 Ball • 8 Greaves • 9 B. Charlton • 10 Hurst • 11 Connelly • 12 Springett • 13 Bonetti • 14 Armfield • 15 Byrne • 16 Peters • 17 Flowers • 18 Hunter • 19 Paine • 20 Callaghan • 21 Hunt • 22 Eastham • Coach: Ramsey