Christopher Hedworth (born 5 January 1964) is an English retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

centre-half. During a career of ten years in the 1980s and 1990s, Hedworth played for various clubs in the north of England as a slender centre-half. His reputation at Barnsley for shakiness and error-proneness led to him being something of a cult hero at the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

club, and he is renowned as one of a trio of goalkeepers fielded by Newcastle in a match in 1986. Hedworth started as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

at Newcastle, signing professional terms in 1982. His debut came in October of that year, a 1–3 loss at

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. A moment of note came on 21 April 1986 when, in a 1–8 loss to

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

, he was one of three goalkeepers fielded by Newcastle; a not-completely-fit Martin Thomas was taken off injured at half time – Newcastle had no back-up

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring 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 intercepting o ...

on the bench, and so Hedworth played in goal, before injuring himself after less than 30 minutes. He was replaced by

Peter Beardsley Peter Andrew Beardsley MBE (born 18 January 1961) is an English football coach and former footballer who played as a forward or midfielder between 1979 and 1999. In 1987, he set a record transfer fee in the English game and represented his coun ...

in goal. Hammers

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Alvin Martin Alvin Edward Martin (born 29 July 1958) is an English football manager, former professional footballer and pundit. As a player, he was a defender, playing most of his footballing career for West Ham United he appeared in 598 games for them, s ...

scored a hat-trick, with one goal coming against each of the three keepers. It would be Hedworth's last game for the Magpies. He would go on to make nine league starts and one start in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

before he moved on to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

on a free transfer in the summer of 1986. 25 appearances for the Tykes were unconvincing, and after two years Hedworth moved on to

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

. He retired in 1992 after a similar two-year spell at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

References

External links

Toon 1892 – Chris Hedworth

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedworth, Chris 1964 births Living people Footballers from Wallsend Footballers from Newcastle upon Tyne English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Newcastle United F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players English Football League players