Mel Hopkins (7 November 1934 – 18 October 2010)
Mel Hopkins obituary
/ref> was a Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
international footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
. He played at left 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 ...
.
Club career
The son of a miner,[Incredible journey - from Ystrad Boys Club to World Cup; The boys of '58](_blank)
- Western Mail, June 20, 2002 he was signed by 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 ...
at the age of 15, when spotted playing for his local boy's club. He was taken on as an apprentice after just one trial. Mel Hopkins made his debut in January 1952[Tottenham Hotspurs transfer history](_blank)
- topspurs.com and winning a League
League or The League may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band
* ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football
Sports
* Sports league
* Rugby league, full contact footba ...
and FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* Th ...
in 1961.[Fans will not forgive Santini](_blank)
- The Argus, October 26, 2004[Remembering the genius of Garrincha](_blank)
- BBC.co.uk
BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...
, 20 January 2008 In 1959, he suffered a serious injury following a collision with Ian St John
John "Ian" St John (; 7 June 1938 – 1 March 2021) was a Scottish professional football player, coach and broadcaster. St John played as a forward for Liverpool throughout most of the 1960s. Signed by Bill Shankly in 1961, St John was a key me ...
, smashing his nose and upper jaw, an injury which would keep him out of football for two years.
In total, Hopkins played 219 games for Spurs, before leaving Spurs for Brighton and Hove Albion
Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football leag ...
in October 1964 for a transfer fee of £8,000. He scored 2 goals and played 58 games for Albion. A brief spell at Ballymena United
Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds which is owned by the ...
in Northern Ireland 1967 was followed by a move to Bradford Park Avenue in January 1969, where he played 30 games, retiring in 1970.
International career
Hopkins played for his country between 1956 and 1963,[Mel Hopkins statistics](_blank)
on RSSSF
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...
earning 34 caps including playing for the Wales squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup
The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country.
Brazil be ...
in Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, where they lost narrowly to Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
in the quarter-finals.[Pele broke my heart, Saint broke my nose](_blank)
- interview with Mel Hopkins, The Argus, 19 December 2001
- The Argus, 2 July 2001
In 2003, Hopkins was given a merit award by the Football Association of Wales
The Football Association of Wales (FAW; cy, Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru) is the governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Welsh national football team, its corresponding women's team, as well as the Welsh ...
.[Hartson scoops Welsh FA award](_blank)
- ESPNsoccernet
ESPN FC (formerly ESPN SoccerNet) is a website and a U.S. television studio program covering soccer that is broadcast daily over the streaming service ESPN+. ESPN FC's origin was a website owned by ESPN Inc. Originally established in 1995 as Soc ...
, October 6, 2003
References
Further reading
*Ashley Drake Publishing - ''When Pele Broke Our Hearts''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, Mel
1934 births
2010 deaths
People from Ystrad
Sportspeople from Rhondda Cynon Taf
English Football League players
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players
Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players
Canterbury City F.C. players
Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players
Welsh footballers
Wales under-23 international footballers
Wales international footballers
1958 FIFA World Cup players
Association football fullbacks