Roger Hunt

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

Roger Hunt
Personal information
Full name	Roger Hunt
Date of birth	July 20, 1938
Place of birth	Golborne, England
Position	Striker
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1959-69 1969-72 1959-72	Liverpool Bolton Wanderers Total:	404 (245) 76 (24) 480 (269)
National team
1962-69	England	34 (18)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

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

[edit] 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 the 29th July 1958, he made his debut and scored his first goal for the club under new manager Bill Shankly on the 9th 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, it would be the first of many. He would go on to score 286 goals for the club.

He was a major factor in the Reds, finally, gaining promotion to the First Division in 1962, this after the club had finished 3rd, just outside the promotion spots, 5 years on the spin. He appeared in 41 of the 42 league games and scored an amazing 41 goals, a goal a game average. His goals helped propel Liverpool to a comfortable 8 point title win over runners-up Leyton Orient and included 5 hat-tricks they came against Leeds United, Walsall, Swansea, former club Bury and Middlesbrough.

It was a similar story in 1963/64 and 1965/66, Hunt was, again, the top scorer, he was for 8 straight seasons, as Liverpool won the League championship, scoring 31 from 41 and 30 from 37 appearances respectively. In between the 2 titles,1965, he was instrumental for the Anfield club as they attempted to do something no other Liverpool team had managed to do in the clubs 72 year history, being win the F.A 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 F.A Cup back to Anfield for the first time. It was during this period that Roger set a record that can never be equalled let alone beat, on the 22nd August 1964 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, his debut was given to him by Walter Winterbottom whilst he was 2nd division player, it came on the 4th April 1962 in a friendly against Austria at Wembley, he also scored his 1st goal at international level as England won 3-1. He then went to the 1962 World Cup finals in Chile without being selected to play.

Although Hunt had won 2 league titles and the holy grail for red fans, the F.A 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, was selected for the 22 man squad by Alf Ramsey.

Hunt was 1 of 3 forwards selected and such was is ability it was the great Jimmy Greaves and not Hunt who lost out to the a certain 24 year old West Ham United forward Geoff Hurst. Roger played in all 6 games, scoring twice, as England went on to win the Jules Rimet trophy after a memorable 4-2 extra time win over West Germany at Wembley.

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 goal.

Back in the domestic game Shankly's all conquering Reds were beginning to age and this included Hunt, so after 492 appearances and 286 goals he was allowed to leave on the 16th December 1969, when he joined Bolton Wanderers. Such was Hunt's natural talent in front of goal only the great Ian Rush has since surpassed his goalscoring total for Liverpool, though Rush scored fewer League goals than Hunt who still holds that particular 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 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 six team mates, plus manager Alf Ramsey, had already received gongs of one form or another. He continues amongst supporters of Liverpool FC to be known as "Sir" Roger Hunt, despite his lack of a Knighthood from the reigning monarch.

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, he was also voted in at No.13 by Liverpool fans on the official Liverpool Football Club web site (liverpoolfc.tv) in the 100 Players Who Shook The Kop poll.

[edit] Career details

• Liverpool F.C (1958 - 1969) 492 appearances, 286 goals
• 2 Division 1 (Level 1) championship winners medals (1964 and 1966)
• FA Cup winners medal (1965)
• Division 2 (Level 2) title winners medal (1962)
• 3 Charity Shield winners medals (1964 (shared), 1965 (shared), 1966)
• European Cup Winners Cup runner-up (1966)
• Bolton Wanderers (1969 - 1972) 74 appearances, 24 goals

• England (1962 - 1969) 34 caps, 18 goals
• World Cup winners medal (1966)

[edit] External links

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

	England squad - 1966 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