Frederick Hopkin (23 September 1895 – 5 March 1970) was a

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 ...

player for

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Career

outside left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, Hopkin was born in

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, and began his career with

. After a spell as a wartime guest with

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, Hopkin joined

in 1919. He made his debut away to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

on 30 August 1919, playing on the left wing in a 1–1 draw at the

Baseball Ground The Baseball Ground (sometimes referred to as the BBG) was a stadium in Derby, England. It was first used for baseball as the home of Derby Baseball Club from 1890 until 1898 and then for football as the home of Derby County from 1895 until 19 ...

. He missed just three games in his first season with the club and scored eight goals in 41 appearances, his first coming in a 3–3 away draw in the

Manchester derby The Manchester derby refers to football matches between Manchester City and Manchester United, first contested in 1881. City play at the City of Manchester Stadium in Bradford, east Manchester, while United play at Old Trafford in the borough o ...

against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

on 11 October 1919. He was less prolific in his second season, with just three goals in 33 appearances. Hopkin's contract with Manchester United resulted in the club being fined £350, having illegally offered him more than the league maximum wage plus a percentage of his transfer fee. At the end of the 1920–21 season, Hopkin was signed by

manager

David Ashworth David George Ashworth (2 June 1867 – 1947) was an English football referee and manager. He became the first manager of Oldham Athletic in 1906, spending eight successful years there before moving on to manage Stockport County in 1914 and ...

for £2,800 in May 1921. He made his debut on 27 August 1921 at

Roker Park Roker Park was a football ground in Roker, Sunderland, England, which was the home of Sunderland A.F.C. from 1898 to 1997, before the club moved to the Stadium of Light. Its final capacity was around 22,500, with only a small part being seated; ...

, but finished on the losing side as

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

beat Liverpool 3–0. Hopkin had to wait until 3 March 1923 for his debut goal, when he scored in the 49th minute of Liverpool's 3–0 home win against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. The goal will always be remembered in Anfield folklore as it was followed by a fire in the Kemlyn Road stand. Less than a year after joining Liverpool, Hopkin was celebrating a league title as the team finished with 57 points, six more than second-placed

. He was celebrating again at the end of the following campaign (1922–23) as they clinched the title once more to claim back-to-back titles, this time they acquired 60 points beating Sunderland into second by the same six-point margin. Hopkin remained a regular starter for the club and quickly put together 360 appearances for Liverpool, it helped his cause that he stayed relatively injury-free during his time at Anfield. In fact, he was an ever-present during the first title-winning season and missed just two of the 42 league matches in the second. Hopkin was allowed to leave Liverpool in 1931, and he rejoined Darlington for a second spell, this after playing 360 times for the Reds, scoring just 12 goals.

External links

Player profile at LFChistory.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkin, Fred 1895 births 1970 deaths English footballers Association football wingers Darlington F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. wartime guest players