For Liverpool fans who really know their history, Gordon Hodgson will be a familiar name. Although he last played for the club way back in 1936, he still holds the record for the player with the most hat-tricks scored for Liverpool. Many greats have tried to match Hodgson’s record but none have quite hit the 17 hat-tricks he registered between 1925 and 1936.
While his goalscoring prowess alone is worthy of discussion, Gordon Hodgson is an exceptional figure for another reason too. As well as being a formidable goalscorer, the South African-born athlete was also an extremely talented cricketer who played at first-class level. Let us take a look at both Hogdson’s football and cricketing careers, and explain how he managed them both at the same time.
Gordon the Goal Machine
RIP Gordon Hodgson
16 April 1904 – 14 June 1951
Amazing player who spent 10 years at Liverpool FC and scored 241 goals for the Reds, a club record that stood for decades. To this day, only Ian Rush and Sir Roger Hunt scored more goals for #LFC! pic.twitter.com/2UDjt6Jx6B— LFChistory.net (@LFChistory) June 14, 2024
That Hodgson reached 17 hat-tricks for Liverpool was no fluke, it was largely a natural outcome of someone who scored so frequently. Across 377 appearances, the 6 foot 2 inch forward scored 241 goals, a rate of 0.64 goals per game. Even the great Ian Rush, Liverpool’s all-time top goalscorer (346 goals in 660 across both stints), could not come close to this ratio (0.52 goals per game).
There is a tendency to dismiss these older records as the game was so different back then but it was not as though your average match was finishing 6-5. If you take a look at the 1930/31 First Division season, which was Hodgson’s most prolific with 31 goals scored, the season averaged 3.95 goals per game. By comparison, the 2023/24 Premier League season saw 3.28 goals per game, although it should be noted that this was a particularly goal-laden year.
The point is here that you should take little away from Hodgson for his goalscoring exploits and his record is still extremely impressive, even if defences are a little sturdier in the modern era. At the time of writing, he stands as Liverpool’s third top goalscorer of all time although we expect Mohamed Salah to overtake him shortly.
Hat-Trick Record
Speaking of Salah, at the time of writing this article the Egyptian sits just eight goals behind Gordon Hodgson’s Liverpool goal tally. Despite this, the two aren’t remotely close when it comes to the number of hat-tricks secured. Salah has only recorded five compared to Hodgson’s seventeen. Over the years Hodgson’s record has only really faced one serious threat, this coming from Ian Rush who finished his Liverpool career with sixteen hat-tricks. Even then, Rush only came close to matching the record once during his final season at Anfield, this coming during a 6-0 rout of Manchester City. Rush grabbed a goal three minutes in and another just after the hour mark, but could not find what would have been a record-matching third.
| Player | Hat-Tricks (for Liverpool) |
|---|---|
| Gordon Hodgson | 17 |
| Ian Rush | 16 |
| Roger Hunt | 12 |
| Robbie Fowler | 10 |
| Michael Owen | 10 |
| Dick Forshaw | 8 |
| Jack Parkinson | 7 |
| Sam Raybould | 6 |
| Luiz Suarez | 6 |
Out of the 17 hat-tricks Hodgson recorded, his first came just 17 games into his Liverpool career during a 5-1 hammering of Sheffield United at Anfield in 1926. The last also came at Anfield, in 1935, during Hodgson’s penultimate season at the club. His three goals that game, two of which came very late on, helped secure a 4-2 win over Leeds United. Hodgson left mid-way through the following season (1935/36) but almost registered what would have been a memorable hat-trick against local rivals Everton. Despite hammering the Toffees 6-0 though, it was teammate Fred Howe who scored four goals, leaving Hodgson with just a first-half brace.
Hodgson the Cricketer
Not only extremely talented with a ball at his feet, Hodgson also possessed great skill with a ball in his hand. Having once taken all 10 wickets for just 13 runs in an amateur affair against Liverpool Police, his ability began attracting attention. Soon after this huge haul, Lancashire signed him up and he represented the county between 1928 and 1933. For those unfamiliar with cricket, the County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England. With the bat, Hodgson was not much use, averaging just 6.97 runs but his bowling and fielding stats were very solid. He took 148 wickets at an average of just 27.75 (runs conceded) and took 38 catches.
Although he rarely stood behind the crease for too long, his highest-ever run total for Lancashire (20) actually came against India in 1932. As for his best spell of bowling, the same year he recorded figures of 6-77 against Middlesex at Lord’s. This was not a trophy-winning season for Lancashire but Hodgson was part of the County Championship winning side in 1928 and 1930. Hodgson never received an international call-up for cricket but back in the footballing world, he did play twice for South Africa and three times for England.
How Did Hodgson Play Cricket and Football?
Today it is unthinkable for a player, no matter how talented, to play both elite-level football and first-class cricket. The schedules for both are just too busy and it would too often require being in two places at once. Back in the 1920s and 1930s though the schedule demands were a little less intense, enabling Hodgson to juggle the two without upsetting too many people. Kindly, the country cricket season pairs up fairly nicely with the footballing season. Back then the First Division season would kick-off late August and finish very early in May. The county cricket meanwhile stretches from April to September, as cricket needs the milder weather. Indeed many of the early association football teams were formed as a way to keep their cricket team fit and active during the winter months.
With football the priority, this meant that Hodgson simply missed the April and September cricket matches but was still available for a good chunk of the campaign. Pre-season training also meant he was usually unavailable for August fixtures too so he only managed to attend one cricket match during the eighth month of the year. Even so, he still managed to represent Lancashire on 56 occasions as well as a further 17 for the second XI. No doubt his proximity to Lancashire’s home ground helped make the dual commitment possible too as the journey between Anfield and Old Trafford (cricket ground, not the football stadium) is not a long one.