Mel Hopkins

Mel Hopkins
Personal information
Full name Melvyn Hopkins
Date of birth (1934-11-07)7 November 1934
Place of birth Ystrad Rhondda, Wales
Date of death 18 October 2010(2010-10-18) (aged 75)
Place of death Worthing, England
Playing position Full-back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1952–1964 Tottenham Hotspur 219 (0)
1964–1967 Brighton & Hove Albion 58 (2)
1967–1969 Canterbury City
1969–1970 Bradford Park Avenue 30 (0)
Total 307+ (2)
National team
1956–1963 Wales 34 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

† Appearances (goals)

Mel Hopkins (7 November 1934 – 18 October 2010)[1] was a Wales international football player. He played at left back.

Club career

The son of a miner,[2] he was signed by Tottenham Hotspur at the age of 15, when spotted playing for his local boy's club.[3] He was taken on as an apprentice after just one trial.[2] Mel Hopkins made his debut in January 1952[4] and winning a League and FA Cup double in 1961.[5][6] In 1959, he suffered a serious injury following a collision with Ian St John, smashing his nose and upper jaw, an injury which would keep him out of football for two years.[3]

In total, Hopkins played 219 games for Spurs, before leaving Spurs for Brighton and Hove Albion in October 1964 for a transfer fee of £8,000.[3][4] He scored 2 goals and played 58 games for Albion. A brief spell at Ballymena United in Northern Ireland 1967 was followed by a move to Bradford Park Avenue in January 1969, where he played 30 games, retiring in 1970.[7]

International career

Hopkins played for his country between 1956 and 1963,[8] earning 34 caps[7] including playing for the Wales squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden, where they lost narrowly to Brazil in the quarter-finals.[3][9]

In 2003, Hopkins was given a merit award by the Football Association of Wales.[10]

References

Further reading

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