Stanley Arthur Murray Hodgson (14 May 1928 – 25 March 2015) was an English rugby union player who played in the Hooker position. Hodgson played club rugby for

Durham City RFC Durham City Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in the city of Durham, County Durham. The first XV currently play in North 1 East, a sixth tier league in the English rugby union system. The club runs several senior teams, a colts side ...

, was capped eleven times for the England national team, and was a member of the British Lions team that toured in 1962. He made 72 appearances for the Durham County representative team and played four times for the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

invitational team.

Early life

Stanley Hodgson was born in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

on 14 May 1928 to George and Mable. His mother Mable died when Stan was three months old, leaving him to be raised by his grandmother, aunts and uncles. Hodgson was educated at Whinny Hill school, and after leaving took up a job at a carpet factory. He married Doreen Smith, with whom he had four children.

Club and representative career

Hodgson played all his club games for

. During a long career at the club, Hodgson eventually played for all four of their senior teams, before finally stopping playing at the age of 60. Hodgson was also selected for the Durham County representative team, and played a total of 72 matches for the team.

International career

Hodgson made his début for the England national team against Wales in the

1960 Five Nations Championship The 1960 Five Nations Championship was the thirty-first series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the sixty-sixth series of the northern hemisphere rugby ...

. At 32 years old, Hodgson kept his age a secret fearing that it would affect his chances of being selected. He played all four of England's games in the 1960 championship. In 1961, Hodgson played against South Africa during their tour of Europe and Wales in the 1961 Five Nations. His next appearances for the England national team came in 1962, when he again played all four of their matches in that year's Five Nations Championship. Hodgson was included in the British Lions squad for their

tour of South Africa The Tour of South Africa was a stage cycling race in South Africa that was only held once, in 2011. It was part of UCI Africa Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by th ...

. He was selected to play in their opening game of the tour against

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

, but broke his leg during the match ending his playing involvement for the rest of the tour. Rather than heading home, he was able to stay with the touring party as a guest of the South African rugby board. His final appearance for England was in the 1964 Five Nations match against Wales. Hodgson made a total of four appearances for the

invitational team, three during their 1960 Easter Tour and in their 1962 game against Canada. Hodgson was made an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

in the

1987 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1987 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

list "for services to Rugby Football".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgson, Stan England international rugby union players Barbarian F.C. players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England 1928 births 2015 deaths Rugby union hookers Rugby union players from Durham, England Members of the Order of the British Empire Durham County RFU players