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Gerry Hitchens

Aston Villa FC, FC Internazionale Milano

 7 caps, 5 goals

P 7 W 4 D 0 L 3 F x: A x
57% successful
1961-62

disciplined: none
captaincies: none
minutes played: 630

Profile
Full name Gerald Archibald Hitchens
Born 8 October 1934 in Rawnsley, Staffordshire [registered in Cannock, December 1934]. Brought up in Highley, between Kidderminister and Bridgnorth in Shropshire. Attended Highley Council School
Married to Meriel R. Jones [registered in Pontypridd, Glamorganshire, December 1958].
Died 13 April 1983 in Hope, Clwyd, aged 48 years x days [registered in Wrexham Maelor, Denbighshire, June 1983].
death notes Died following a heart-attack, playing in a charity football match. He was playing for a Mold-based firm of solictors in Castell Alun sports ground in Fagl Lane, Hope. Seconds after heading a cross over the bar, Gerry collapsed to the ground. He was taken to Wrexham General Hospital but pronounced dead on arrival. Cremated, and ashes buried in his hometown of Holywell in Flintshire on 20 April 1983. Living at Holway House on the Carmel Road, Carmel, Gorsedd, at the time of his untimely death.
Height/Weight 5' 10½", 12st. 2lbs [1960].

Source

Douglas Lammings' An English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990] & FindMyPast.com
Biographies The Gerry Hitchens Story: From Mine to Milan - Simon Goodyear (Breedon Books Publishing, 2009)
 

x. - A Football Compendium, Peter J. Seddon (1999).

Club Career
Club(s)
Hitchens was a coal miner, playing for Highley Youth Club and then Highley Miners Welfare between 1952 and 1953.  It was when he was appearing in a county cup final for the Miners that Hitchens earned his first professional contract.  The final was being held at Aggborough, the home stadium of local professional club Kidderminster Harriers FC. His performance was being watched by the then club secretary, Ted Gamson, who went on to offer a contract. After several seasons in the reserve team, Hitchens only played fourteen times for the first team, scoring six goals, he was sold to Cardiff City FC on 25 January 1955 for �1,000, despite alleged interest from West Bromwich Albion FC and Aston Villa FC.  After three seasons (95 league appearances and forty goals), Hitchens did join Aston Villa FC, for �22,500 in December 1957 (78 goals in 132 league appearances), which attracted the attention of leading Italian club, FC Internazionale Milano, that and the fact he scored twice against Italy for England in Rome, and he joined Milan in June 1961 for �80,000 (39 league appearances, seventeen goals), was not enough to keep him longer than seventeen months, and he was sold to Torino FC in November 1962 in a player exchange (89 league appearances, 28 goals).  He then joined Atalanta BC in June 1965 (58 league appearances, ten goals) and Cagliari in 1967 (nineteen league appearances, four goals), after spending a short period on loan to the NASL with Chicago Mustang, also in 1967.  Hitchens returned to England in November 1969 when he signed for Worcester City FC, playing 51 times, scoring 25. He joined Merthyr Tydfil FC, played six times before retiring on 15 April 1971.
Club honours Welsh Cup winners 1955-56; Football League Division Two winners 1959-60; Serie A Champions 1962-63; Coppa Italia runners-up 1962-63, 1963-64;
Individual honours Football League (one appearance)
Distinctions x

Source

Douglas Lammings' An English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990].

England Career
Player number 795th player to appear for England.
Position(s) Centre-forward
First match No. x, 10 May 1961, aged 26 years 214 days.
Last match No. x, 10 June 1962, aged 27 years 245 days.
Major tournaments World Cup Finals 1962;
Team honours x
Individual honours England U23 (one appearance)
Distinctions x

Beyond England

Hanging up his boots in 1971, Gerry was able to concentrate more on his two main hobbies � golf and dog breeding. Refusing the temptation to get involved in football coaching or management, he had a spell managing an ironworks in Pontypridd before moving north to Holywell in 1977 to run his brother-in-law�s timber suppliers, near Prestatyn. - An English Football Internationalists' Who's Who. Douglas Lamming (1990). Hatton Press, p.130-131./The Gerry Hitchens Story

 

Gerry Hitchens - Career Statistics
Squads Apps Comp.
Apps		 Starts Sub on Sub off Mins. Goals Goals Av.min Comp.
Goals		 Capt. Disc.
- - - - - - - - - min - - None
Due to the fact that many matches rarely stuck to exactly ninety minutes long, allowing time for injuries, errors and substitutions.  The minutes here given can only ever be a guideline and cannot therefore be accurate, only an approximation.

 

Gerry Hitchens - Match Record - All Matches
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts % W/L
Home - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Away - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Neutral - - - - - - - - - - - - -
All - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Gerry Hitchens - Match Record - By Colour of Shirt
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts % W/L
White - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Blue - - - - - - - - - - - - -
All - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Gerry Hitchens - Match Record - By Type of Match
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts% W/L

WCP

 0 0 0 0 0 0 =0 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 =0
WCF 0 0 0 0 0 0 =0 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 =0
World Cup - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ECP

 0 0 0 0 0 0 =0 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 =0
ECF 0 0 0 0 0 0 =0 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 =0
European Championship - - - - - - - - - - - - -
British Championship - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Friendly - - - - - - - - - - - - -
All - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Gerry Hitchens - Match Record - Tournament Matches
All Tournaments
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts% W/L
x - - - - - - - - - - - - -
All - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Gerry Hitchens - Match History
 Club: Aston Villa F.C. - 3 full caps

Coach: Walter Winterbottom - 7 full capsx

Age 26
1 347 10 May 1961 - England 8 Mexico 0, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London Fr HW Start 9
- 348 21 May 1961 - Portugal 1 England 1, Estádio Nacional, Jamor, Lisboa WCP AD squad/unused ?
2 349 24 May 1961 - Italy 2 England 3, Stadio Olimpico, Roma Tour AW Start 9
3 350 27 May 1961 - Austria 3 England 1, Praterstadion, Wien AL Start 9
 Club: F.C. Internazionale Milano - 4 full caps  
Age 27
4 357 9 May 1962 - England 3 Switzerland 1, Empire Stadium, Wembley, London Fr HW Start 9
5 358 20 May 1962 - Peru 0 England 4, Estadio Nacional Coloso de José Díaz, Lima Fr AW Start 9
6 359 31 May 1962 - Hungary 2 England 1, Estadio Braden Copper Co., Rancagua WCF NL Start 9
- 360 2 June 1962 - England 3, Argentina 1, Estadio Braden Copper Co., Rancagua AD squad/unused
- 361 7 June 1962 - Bulgaria 0 England 0, Estadio Braden Copper Co., Rancagua AD squad/unused
7 362 10 June 1962 - Brazil 3 England 1, Estadio Municipal, Viña del Mar NL Start

Notes

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CG