Graham Hockless (born 20 October 1982) is an English football coach and former professional player who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

from 2001 to 2013. Having come through the youth ranks at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

, he switched to

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

in 2001 and went on to play at every level of the Football League. While with The Mariners he spent time on loan with

Leigh RMI Leigh Genesis Football Club, formerly known as Horwich Railway Mechanics Institute F.C. (Horwich RMI) and Leigh Railway Mechanics Institute F.C. (Leigh RMI), is an English amateur association football club that currently plays in the South Lancas ...

before joining

North Ferriby United North Ferriby United Association Football Club was a semi-professional football club in North Ferriby, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. At the time of their demise they were members of the Northern Premier League and played at Grange Lane. F ...

. In 2006, he emigrated to Australia, where he has since forged a career as a semi-professional with

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Heidelberg United Heidelberg United Alexander Football Club (founded as Alexander the Great-Melbourne Soccer Club) established in 1958 is a football (soccer) club based in the northern Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg West, Victoria, Australia. The team currently ...

Green Gully Cavaliers Green Gully Soccer Club is an Australian association football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Green Gully is one of the largest clubs in Melbourne, having participated in the now defunct National Soccer League between 1984–1986. The club ...

and the

Port Melbourne Sharks Port Melbourne SC is an Australian soccer club based in Port Melbourne, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. The club was formed in 1968 by local Greek Australians, and was promoted over the years to the Victorian Premier League in 1994. It spent th ...

Playing career

Grimsby Town

Hockless was brought through the youth ranks at his hometown club of

but despite being a regular in the clubs, youth and reserve teams in 2000, he was allowed to join

on a free transfer along with

Chris Bolder Christopher James Bolder (born 19 August 1982) is an English former professional footballer and the manager of Northern Counties East League side North Ferriby. Bolder was a midfielder in career that lasted from 2001 until 2017, although he onl ...

. The Mariners at the time, were playing in the First Division three divisions higher than Hull so the youngster had taken a big step up in joining them. In his first season, Graham failed to make a single appearance for the club and spent the season in the reserve side. It wasn't until 18 months after signing for the club that he made his debut against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

. Grimsby would end up relegated at the end of the 2002–03 season In the following season manager Paul Groves gave Hockless more of a chance within the first team, and after playing in a handful of games he began to become a regular with his performances making an impact in the team as well. In the second to last game of the season Hockless came to prominence when his curling cross setup

Isaiah Rankin Isaiah Marcus Rankin (born 22 May 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward from 1996 to 2014. He started his professional career with Arsenal where he came through the club's youth setup. He appeared once for ...

to score a last gasp winner against Brentford to take the 2003–04 relegation battle down to the last day of the season. Grimsby were unable to avoid relegation after suffering a 2–1 defeat against

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

on the final day of the 2003–04 season, thus meaning the club and Graham's second successive relegation. Hockless went on to receive the "Supporters Young Player Of The Season Award" . This was something that would attract other clubs in summer 2004, and rumours circulated in the local media that

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

and former club

(who were now in a higher league than Grimsby) were to swoop for Graham in the transfer window. Despite the interest, Hockless committed himself to the club and signed a one-year contract extension..

Russell Slade Russell Mark Slade (born 10 October 1960) is an English professional football manager, who was most recently managerial consultant of League Two club Stevenage. Having had an extended career at reserve team level, Slade entered professional ...

took over as the club's manager for the start of the 2004–05 season but rarely included Hockless, and despite confusion for his prolonged absence by the club's supporters the player was constantly looked past in favour of players such as

Thomas Pinault Thomas Pinault (born 4 December 1981) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder in the Football League for Colchester United, Grimsby Town and Brentford, and his native country for Cannes and RC Grasse. Career C ...

and Ashley Sestanovich. Hockless was eventually allowed to leave the club on loan and joined Conference National outfit

, but after featuring in only 2 games for Leigh he returned to Grimsby.

North Ferriby United

In June 2005, Hockless left Town and signed for non league side

, which was too come as a shock for many following the players rumoured transfer activity 12 months earlier.

the player who joined Grimsby from Hull with him in 2001 also made the move too North Ferriby following a season with

Ossett Town Ossett Town Association Football Club was an English football club based in Ossett in West Yorkshire. History Ossett Town AFC were formed in 1936 when, during a public meeting, the Mayor of the Borough of Ossett charged John Carter, a former ...

Australia

After one full season with United, Hockless emigrated to Australia signing for

Richmond SC Richmond Soccer Club is an Australian soccer club from Richmond, Victoria, an inner eastern suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Richmond compete in the Victorian State League Division 1 South-East competition, the third tier of football in Victor ...

before moving to

in 2008 where he picked up the gold medal for the best player in the

Victorian Premier League The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer lea ...

. In 2010, he signed for

and later moved on to the

in 2013.

Coaching career

Hockless retired from playing in 2013 and spent the 2014 season as assistant coach of

South Melbourne FC South Melbourne Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in suburb of Albert Park, in Melbourne, Victoria. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, with matches played at Lakeside Stadium ...

Honours

Grimsby Town *Supporters Young Player of the Year: 2003–04 Personal *

Gold Medal Winner (VPL Player of the Year): 2008

External links

*
electronicfishcake.com
Player Profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Hockless, Graham 1982 births Living people Footballers from Kingston upon Hull English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Hull City A.F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Leigh Genesis F.C. players North Ferriby United A.F.C. players Richmond SC players Heidelberg United FC players Green Gully SC players Port Melbourne SC players English Football League players National League (English football) players