Cocky

By Vince Cooper

The long and storied history of football is littered with ‘bad boys’. Most earned their reputations on the pitch with tough-tackling and intimidating behaviour. Others (more recently in most cases) have caused problems for their employers, and outrage from fans, with actions off the pitch.

Delving back over a century there was one man who managed to achieve both of the above, with his actions and misdeeds on the field of play matched if not surpassed by a somewhat notorious private life. So who was this man, most of whose problems seem to have been buried in the mists of time? Ladies and gentlemen I present the original ‘bad boy’, George ‘Cocky’ Hunter.

George Charles Hunter was born in Peshawar, British India (now Pakistan), just 20 miles from the famous Khyber Pass, where his father was serving with the British military in August 1886. It was here that he first played football appearing in matches for Peshawar junior teams. After the family returned to England George followed in his dad’s footsteps when joining the Royal West Kent regiment in Maidstone in December 1903 at the age of 18.

After completing his initial training Hunter was posted to Malta. In February 1906 he was promoted to Lance Corporal but within three months he resigned the extra stripe (for reasons unknown) although shortly after this he extended his time in the Army to nine years.

That extension never materialised however as the first of his problems reared its head. Later in 1906 he was arrested and subsequently found guilty of theft and receiving stolen goods. Hunter was sentenced to 140 days hard labour and on completion he was discharged from the services for misconduct. But, as the saying goes, when one door closes another opens and it was the football ‘door’ that he came through- though it wasn’t to be the end of ‘Cocky’s’ military service as we’ll see later.

Hunter’s English footballing career began soon after his army departure when he joined lowly Maidstone United of the Isthmian League. From there he was snapped up by Southern League team Croydon Common, playing in the team’s first-ever professional match, a South-Eastern League match against West Ham United Reserves.

George enjoyed an action-packed year at The Nest (a ground which would later become home to Crystal Palace). He earned the nickname ‘Gunpowder’ which could have been related to his former military service, his thunderous shot or a somewhat volatile temperament. He made 39 appearances, once scored seven times in a friendly – against a team called Brixton Wednesday – and also got sent off in a reserve match with Tottenham Hotspur.

There was enough on show for shrewd Scottish manager George Ramsey to sign him for Aston Villa, then probably the biggest clubs in the country.

It was here that the Cocky nickname came into being, perhaps because he moved from a London (‘Cockney’) club. A no-nonsense half-back he made his Villa debut on 12 September 1908 at the City Ground  and helped his team record a 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest. Despite a fine first start he was left out the following week and, in fact, didn’t return to the starting line-up until the end of the year where in one match, the return with Forest it was noted that he; ‘played a hard game’ but was said to; ‘rush at his opponents too recklessly’. He was soon left out of the side again as his team hit a poor run of form.

Cocky returned to the first team in March 1909 this time keeping his place until the end a debut top-flight season campaign where he made 15 appearances. It was a disappointing season for the Villains with the perennial title challengers finishing 15 points adrift of champions Newcastle.

The 1909-10 season saw Hunter become a regular in the Villa side, and a huge favourite among fans with his whole-hearted, if occasionally reckless style. He made 32 appearances as Ramsey’s men roared back up the table to win the title for the 6th time and he also earned representative honours when called on to play for the Football League twice, against their Scottish counterparts and against the Southern League.  

Cocky then made over 30 appearances again in the following campaign with his team missing out on a second successive title by a solitary point to Manchester United although the season was clouded a little by run-ins with the board, manager and teammates.

The start of the 1911-12 season kicked off with Hunter again in the side but in the run-up to Christmas Villa were thrashed 6-2 at Newcastle and Cocky was censured by the referee and later warned for instances of ‘roughhouse’ play.

This proved to be the final straw for his club’s hierarchy. Hunter had recently made clear his disappointment with the club’s official programme which had been critical of his performances.

He stated that, in his opinion, if the Villa directors had a problem with him or his behaviour they should have called him in and censured him rather than allowing the programme to do their dirty work.

In late December struggling Oldham Athletic made a bid of £1,200 for his services and, much to the dismay of the Villa fans with whom he had become a firm favourite, the club accepted the offer.

Hunter went straight into the Athletic team for the crucial early January relegation tussle with Preston. Appearing at centre-half he played a huge role in his new team’s single goal win. He would go on to appear in every game for the rest of the season and was a major influence as the Latics avoided the drop by a single point – with Preston relegated one place below them.

Hunter started the following season at the heart of the Oldham half-back line but after helping his team reach the FA Cup quarter-final with a victory over Manchester United (they would go on to make the semis) and with the Latics sitting 4th in the 1st Division just two points behind leaders Sheffield Wednesday he was somewhat surprisingly sold, for what was reported to be a large fee, to struggling Chelsea.

The Pensioners were just one place above the relegation places at the time of his move but Hunter had an immediate effect, scoring on his debut and playing a starring role as his new team recorded a huge 2-1 win over Manchester City. He was ever-present for the remainder of the season and helped Chelsea finish five points clear of the drop. Oldham meanwhile, fell from their prominent position and finished in ninth place.

When the 1913-14 season got underway Hunter was injured and missed Chelsea’s opening encounter, a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Spurs. He was restored to the line up a week later but he wrenched his knee when turning out for a short-handed reserve team which cost him another month of playing time.

Cocky made his comeback in early November and played a key role as his team, bottom of the table early in the campaign made some progress. However before the season ended he had moved on yet again with Manchester United, another club in danger of relegation, paying £1,300 to take him north.

Hunter didn’t have an immediate positive impact on his new team as his first three starts all ended in defeat but the player helped his new club turn things around with two wins and two draws in their last four matches and they eventually finished in a comfortable 14th.

Before the 1914-15 season started Hunter received a major boost when United appointed him captain. He started the season at right-half but after his team shipped six goals and got a single point from their first three matches, was switched to centre half and called man of the match for a performance in the win over Blackburn Rovers that was described as ‘almost reckless’. That comment seemed to say much about Cocky’s playing style and desire.

Playing right on the edge of legality seemed to be very much Hunter’s way. Many match reports praise him for his ‘robust’ play and it must be highly unlikely that he would survive in today’s game (no doubt true of many from the era).

The 1914-15 season proved a tough one for United who finished 18th in the 20-team top flight just two points clear of basement dwellers Spurs.

If that wasn’t bad enough they were also involved in a major scandal when the match with Liverpool on April 2nd was later reported to have been ‘fixed’. A total of five players from both teams (three from United and two from Liverpool) were banned for life following news that the final scoreline of 2-1 to United had been heavily gambled on.

But Hunter can bear no responsibility having already played his last match for the club. The disciplinary problems that had dogged his career reared their ugly head yet again. This time it was on the training ground and he was suspended indefinitely after an altercation with a teammate.

In the 1915-16 season Hunter appeared a number of times for old team Croydon Common in wartime football – and became the only player to appear in the club’s first and last-ever professional matches, the last being a 1-1 at Clapton Orient in the London Combination. This was after he had already signed up for another stint in the Army.

Whether the authorities turned a blind eye to Hunter’s previous dishonorable discharge or the man himself deceived them as was reported later by some sources is unclear but Cocky enlisted with the Royal Sussex Regiment in September 1915.

Hunter originally served with the 10th (Reserve) Battalion of the regiment but was sent to serve with the 9th Battalion in 1916, first in France and later at Gallipoli. He then suffered from bouts of dysentery and was eventually repatriated to England working as a fitness instructor before being demobilised after the Armistice in November 1918.

Despite his Army duties Hunter found time to play for Southampton, Brentford and Birmingham during the war years. Once hostilities were over he signed with Southern League Portsmouth, making eight appearances for the south coast club before his career came to a bad end after he and a teammate were suspended indefinitely for taking a £150 bribe from a bookmaker.

That he had played for ten different clubs at a time when most players were considered to be ‘wanderers’ if they played for more than three might say something about him being difficult to deal with. But he also seemed to be the type of player clubs looked to when they were in trouble. In three successive seasons he was brought in by clubs facing relegation fights and each time helped his new team survive. That says something about his style. In football terms he was a man you wanted alongside you when the going got tough.

After hanging up his boots Hunter initially worked as a football journalist and also authored a book called ‘Football’s Funny Side’ but the new career didn’t last long. His no doubt forthright opinions may have been a bit much for the editors of the time.

After that he drifted away from the game, living in south west London and working menial jobs. He died penniless in St Thomas’s Hospital Lambeth in 1934 aged 49 and is buried in Wandsworth Cemetery.

George Hunter is hardly likely to go down in the annals of football history as a great. But if I wanted someone alongside me in the games ‘trenches’ when the going got tough, I just might pick him.