Ralph Vincent Hoten (27 December 1896 – 1978) was an English professional

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 le ...

who played as an

inside-forward 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 ...

in the English Football League.

Career

Born in

Pinxton Pinxton is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire on the eastern boundary of Nottinghamshire, England, just south of the Pinxton Interchange at Junction 28 of the M1 motorway where the A38 road meets the M1. Pinxton is part of the Bolsover ...

, Hoten joined his local First Division club Notts County in 1919, after playing for amateur teams Lady Bay FC and Pinxton Colliery either side of the Great War. He made his Football League debut at

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

in February 1920, but failed to make his mark in Nottingham, moving south to Portsmouth where he established himself in the league, scoring nine goals in his first season before losing his place early the following season.

Luton Town (1923–1924)

In March 1923, Hoten moved to Luton Town in a swap deal involving Tom Parker. He soon became a favourite at Kenilworth Road as a ‘fast, clever and strongly built’ Inside forward. He scored on his debut in a win over Southend United and before the end of the season scored a hat-trick in a win over Exeter City.

Northampton Town (1924–1930)

Hoten signed for Northampton Town in December 1924 alongside fellow Luton Town teammate

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. They were signed by manager

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due to the injury of record goalscorer at the time,

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. After a couple of frugal seasons, it was only after the changes to the offside law that Hoten became a regular goalscorer. He scored a hat-trick in an FA Cup win over Leyton in November 1927 and scored double figures for the first time in his career as the team finished runners-up in the 1927–28 season, missing out on promotion. The following season, Hoten scored 31 goals, but Northampton failed to improve on their finish position, placing third. However Hoten did break a club record for scoring 5 goals in an 8-1 victory over Crystal Palace in October 1928, a feat later equalled by

Albert Dawes Albert George Dawes (23 April 1907 – 23 June 1973) was an English professional footballer who played for Northampton Town and Crystal Palace as a forward. He also played one first-class cricket game for Northamptonshire County Cricket Club a ...

in an FA Cup tie. In the 1929-30 season, Hoten scored 22 goals including hat-tricks against Margate in the FA Cup, and previous club Luton Town as The Cobblers again missed out on promotion finishing fourth. In the summer of 1930, he was sold to Queens Park Rangers before retiring from football soon after through injury.

Post football

Hoten became a coffin maker and later, a coal merchant in Wellingborough, before passing away in 1978.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoten, Ralph 1896 births English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Notts County F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players English Football League players 1978 deaths