E
arly August 1924 and
Liverpool, coached by Matt
McQueen and champions
twice in recent years (1921/22
and 1922/23) were busy
preparing for the new season.
At the same time on the other
side of the world a group of 20
players were convening in Cape
Town to form a South African
squad that would spend two
months playing exhibition games
across England, Wales, Scotland,
Ireland and the Netherlands.
The Springbok tourists came
from the Orange Free State,
Transvaal, Natal and Western
Province to make the long
voyage by sea. Among them
on board the RMS Briton were
Gordon Hodgson, a 20-year-
old forward, and Arthur Riley,
a goalkeeper of the same age.
Their performances would earn
both of them moves to Anfield.
At the time of their arrival –
their first game was a 4-2 win
over Bohemians in Dublin on 30
August – non-British players
were a rarity in English football.
A glance at the Liverpool line-up
from a 4-2 defeat by Aston Villa
on the same date confirms as
much, with Belfast-born keeper
Elisha Scott the only one from
outside the British mainland.125: THEN
Hodgson front-row third-from-right in the
South African touring party at Anfield, 1924