Laurie Hughes (2 March 1924 – 9 September 2011) was a

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 ...

who played as a

centre half 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 ...

for

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 populat ...

. He made three appearances for the England national team.

Life and playing career

Born in 12 Gleave Street, Everton, Liverpool, England, Hughes was a strong, uncompromising centre half, who could also play wing half; he had the knack of being able to read the game-stopping moves before they caused too many problems. Hughes signed for Liverpool in 1943 from Tranmere where he was a trainee; however, it was not until 5 January 1946 that he made his debut in a 2–0

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 ...

3rd round 1st leg victory at Sealand Road, Chester, his only goal did not come until 8 December 1951 in a league game at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 189 ...

against Preston, Hughes' 88th-minute strike saving a point in the 2–2 draw. During the first post-war season of 1946–47 Hughes made 30 appearances from 42 games helping the Reds win the First Division

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

, Liverpool's first title in 24 years. 1950 proved to be a rollercoaster of a season for Hughes, on a high due to reaching the

final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

only to lose to Arsenal 2–0. He then was selected to represent England at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

in Brazil getting all of his three caps in the process and becoming Liverpool's first representative at the world's premier football tournament, unfortunately, one of the appearances was the 1–0 defeat to the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. His debut came on 25 June 1950 in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

were the opponents who were beaten 2–0 with the goals coming from

Stan Mortensen Stanley Harding Mortensen (26 May 1921 – 22 May 1991) was an English professional footballer, most famous for his part in the 1953 FA Cup Final (subsequently known as the "Matthews Final"), in which he became the only player ever to score a ha ...

and

Wilf Mannion Wilfrid James Mannion (16 May 1918 – 14 April 2000) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside forward, making over 350 senior appearances for Middlesbrough. He also played international football for England. With his blonde ...

. Hughes was badly injured in the

1950 FA Charity Shield The 1950 FA Charity Shield was the 28th FA Charity Shield, an early season exhibition football match hosted by The Football Association. The 1950 match was held between the England squad that had competed at the 1950 World Cup, and the squad th ...

match. He never played for England again and the injury was seen as the beginning of his career's decline. He is still the only English player whose entire representative career consisted of World Cup finals matches. Hughes and Liverpool's fortunes changed during the fifties when the Reds fell from the top tier, they managed to fend off relegation during the 1952–53 season but could not prevent the drop a season later. Hughes stayed on at Liverpool and had a decent season in the 1956–57 missing just one match. Hughes played his last game against Charlton on 28 September 1957 aged 33, however, Hughes remained loyal to the club and did not retire for another three years, doing so in May 1960. During the 1960s Hughes ran a grocery store and in 1964 was convicted of receiving stolen goods and was fined £20 after buying food that was the property of Woolworths. Hughes died at home on 9 September 2011 aged 87.Former Liverpool FC and Tranmere Rovers footballer Laurie Hughes has died aged 87.
www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk Published 9. September 2011. Visited 9. September 2011.

Honours

Liverpool *

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

: 1946–47 *

: runner-up

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Laurie 1924 births 2011 deaths English footballers England international footballers England B international footballers Liverpool F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players 1950 FIFA World Cup players English Football League players Footballers from Liverpool Association football defenders FA Cup Final players