By Mark Gleeson
JOHANNESBURG May 2 (Reuters) – Hillview High School in
Pretoria can claim to have been the starting point of Roy
Hodgson’s coaching career which has now spanned four decades and
culminated in the England manager’s job.
Hodgson took a part-time job as a physical education teacher
and coached the school’s soccer teams when he went to South
Africa to play in his late 20s from 1973 to 1974.
Headmaster JM Hepburn said the school was delighted to
discover the connection.
“We are still a competitive school at soccer, we don’t play
any rugby here,” he told Reuters from a city traditionally more
obsessed with the oval ball game.
Hodgson is remembered by some of the youngsters he took
charge of when asked to also coach the Northern Transvaal
provincial under-13 side at the national championship in Durban
in 1974.
“I was too young to notice anything that might have
suggested he would one day become manager of England,” quipped
former striker Noel Cousins, “but he must have been good because
we went on to win the tournament which hadn’t happened for the
province in years.”
Among the talented team was Roy Wegerle, who later played
for Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers and appeared at two World Cups
for the United States after leaving South Africa and marrying an
American.
Sportswriter Neal Collins was also on the fringes of the
squad and said Hodgson was an outstanding youth coach.
Continued…
