Roger Hunt

Roger Hunt (20 July 1938 – 27 September 2021) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. He is remembered as one of Liverpool’s finest players, sitting second on the club’s all-time scoring list with 285 goals and holding the record for most league goals for the club with 244. He also represented England and was part of the squad that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup.

Hunt was born in Glazebury, Lancashire, and played for Croft Youth Club, Stockton Heath, and Devizes Town as a youngster. He signed for Liverpool in July 1958 under manager Phil Taylor, joining from Stockton Heath. His debut came on 9 September 1959 in a Second Division match at Anfield against Scunthorpe United, where he scored in the 64th minute to secure a 2–0 win. That goal was the first of 286 for the club, with 244 coming in the league—a record that still stands.

When Bill Shankly took over as manager, he cleared out 24 players, but Hunt was kept on and became a key figure in Liverpool’s success during the 1960s. The club won promotion to the First Division in 1962 after five years of finishing just outside the promotion spots. In the 1961–62 season, Hunt played 41 of 42 league games and scored 41 goals, including five hat-tricks against Leeds United, Walsall, Swansea Town, former club Bury, and Middlesbrough. His goals helped Liverpool win the Second Division title by eight points over Leyton Orient.

Hunt was the club’s top scorer for eight consecutive seasons. In 1963–64, he scored 31 goals in 41 league games, and in 1965–66, he netted 29 in 37 appearances, as Liverpool won the league title both times. On 22 August 1964, he scored after 11 minutes against Arsenal in a 3–2 home win—the first goal ever shown on the BBC’s Match of the Day.

In 1965, Hunt helped Liverpool win the FA Cup for the first time. He scored four times during the run, which saw off West Bromwich Albion, Stockport County, Bolton Wanderers, Leicester City, and Chelsea. In the final against Leeds United at Wembley, the match was goalless after 90 minutes. Hunt scored in the 93rd minute, and Ian St. John added a second to give Liverpool a 2–1 victory. The following year, Hunt scored Liverpool’s only goal in the Cup Winners’ Cup final, but they lost 2–1 after extra time to Borussia Dortmund.

On 7 November 1967, in an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup match against TSV 1860 Munich, Hunt scored his 242nd goal for Liverpool, becoming the club’s all-time record scorer. He finished with 286 goals when he left in 1969 to join Bolton Wanderers. That record stood until Ian Rush surpassed it in 1992. Hunt also held the mark for reaching 100 top-flight goals in the fewest games for Liverpool (152), until Mohamed Salah beat it by one game in September 2021.

Hunt moved to Bolton Wanderers in December 1969. In 1971, he went on loan to Hellenic F.C. in South Africa’s National Football League. He retired in 1972, and a testimonial match was held for him at Anfield in April 1972, attended by 56,000 people.

Internationally, Hunt earned 34 caps for England. He made his debut on 4 April 1962 under manager Walter Winterbottom, while still a Second Division player, in a friendly against Austria at Wembley. He scored on his debut in a 3–1 win. He was part of the England squad for the 1962 World Cup in Chile but did not play.

For the 1966 World Cup, hosted by England, manager Alf Ramsey selected Hunt along with Liverpool teammates Ian Callaghan and Gerry Byrne. Hunt was one of three forwards in the squad. He initially partnered Jimmy Greaves up front, but after Greaves suffered a leg injury, Hunt played alongside Geoff Hurst. He appeared in all six of England’s matches, scoring three times—twice against France and once against Mexico—as England beat West Germany 4–2 after extra time in the final to win the Jules Rimet trophy.

Some England fans, particularly from the south, blamed Hunt for replacing Greaves in the final, even though it was actually Geoff Hurst who took Greaves’s place. Hunt was booed during later England appearances. After a game against Romania in 1969, he told Ramsey he no longer wished to play for England.

Hunt was given an honorary knighthood by Liverpool fans, who called him “Sir Roger.” In 2006, he was ranked 13th in the official fan poll “100 Players Who Shook the Kop,” and in 2026, another official poll ranked him the club’s 9th greatest player. He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2006.