A GREAT PLAYER AND A GREAT GENTLEMAN
Striker Hunt helped Reds achieve their Holy Grail – the FA Cup – & England conquer the world. Fans will also remember his modesty & decency
ASK Liverpool supporters from the ’60s about their abiding memories of Roger Hunt and most recollections will follow a similar theme.
The goal in the 1965 FA Cup final, the pride of seeing Hunt play such a crucial role in England’s triumphant World Cup campaign, his partnership with Ian St John, to be renewed shortly.
But one or two might mention an FA Cup fifth round replay against Leicester City at Anfield in March 1969.
In 10 years, Bill Shankly had never dropped the man he referred to as “our Roger”.
Yet, with just under 20 minutes of the Leicester game to go and with his team trailing by a single goal, Shankly withdrew Hunt and sent on Bobby Graham.
It was only the second season of tactical substitutions being permitted and, of course, you were only allowed one.
To be hooked in those days was some slight.
Hunt stripped off his shirt, threw it to the ground, and stormed down the tunnel.
And the reason why some Liverpool fans who were there for that moment still remember it now?
Because it was so amusingly out of character.
For someone who was fundamental to Liverpool’s successes in the Second Division, First Division and, probably most significantly, in the FA Cup, Hunt was quite wonderfully modest and unassuming.
Every player who has followed him on to the Anfield payroll and has, down the years, met him, will use the same word.
Every fan who watched him or has even the most fleeting interaction with him, will use the same word. Gentleman.
One or two of the occasions when I have enjoyed his company were at charity golf days when footballers, among other celebrities, would mix with local members and guests.
Hunt would sit with his great mate Gordon Banks and the pair would often go unnoticed amidst younger generations of ex-players.
It struck me they quite liked it that way.
Every year, Hunt was among those from the class of ’66 who would take their partners to a quiet Staffordshire hotel for a weekend reunion when they would play golf, have dinner, and generally catch up.
They paid every year, wanting no fuss and no favour.
And that summed up the World Cup-winning squad and summed up Hunt (above).
Never wanted any fuss or favour.
Some of the tributes that flooded in after news of Hunt’s passing described him as a “great player but even greater gentleman”.
He truly must have been some gentleman, then, because he was a hell of a player, scoring 285 goals in 492 matches for Liverpool, and scoring the first in that 2-1 win over Leeds at Wembley in 1965.
The FA Cup had been a holy grail for Liverpool and Hunt did as much as anyone to help deliver it.
Almost the same could be said about his World Cup contribution for England. Hunt played in all six matches, scoring three times.
It was a measure of his importance that Sir Alf Ramsey would later suggest the only selection dilemma was whether to play Geoff Hurst or Jimmy Greaves.
Hunt’s presence in the starting line-up was a given, one of the first names on the team sheet.
When he finished playing, Hunt joined the family haulage business, but he and his Liverpool and England teammates had already done the heavy lifting for generations of footballers to come.
Hunt was one of those players who gave England its finest moment and brought another level of interest to the game.
Hunt was one of those players who laid the foundations for the emergence of Liverpool as a powerhouse of world football.
The modern professional owes players such as Sir Roger.
Not that he would ever see it that way.
A great player and a great gentleman.