Gordon Rahere Hoare (1884-1973) was born in Blackheath, South East London on 18 April 1884 and died in Putney in December 1973. An amateur international, the inside-forward played for three Football League clubs before and immediately after World War One, during which he served overseas with the British Army. In 1912, Hoare was part of the Great Britain team that won the gold medal at the Stockholm Olympic Games.
Football Career
Hoare began his career playing junior football for Westcombe Park and later had spells at West Norwood, Woolwich Polytechnic and Bromley before joining Arsenal as an amateur. Handed his debut in a 1-1 home draw against The Wednesday on 20 April 1907, Hoare would play 14 further games for the club before spending two seasons at Glossop.
Over the following five seasons, Hoare played more than 80 games in separate spells at both Arsenal and Glossop, while also turning out for Bromley, West Norwood and Northfleet United. In 1909, he toured the United States with a group of amateurs called the ‘Pilgrims’ and with an English XI called the ‘Wanderers’ in Moscow two years later.
On 4 July 1912, Hoare scored twice in Great Britain’s 4-2 win over Denmark in the final of the Olympic football tournament and also won 13 amateur international caps for England. Between December 1914 and April 1915, Hoare turned out for Scottish side Queens Park and would also appear as wartime guest for Fulham and Manchester City during the First World War. In 1919, Hoare returned to Craven Cottage and played a further four league and two FA Cup games for the club, scoring on two occasions.
First World War Service
Hoare initially enlisted as a private in the Army Service Corps (ASC) and was posted to the mechanical transport (MT) section. In April 1916, Hoare was reported to have been based at Mottingham, Kent and was subsequently commissioned as a second lieutenant in the ASC on 3 July 1917. By the end of the war, Hoare had been promoted to lieutenant.
CAREER STATISTICAL RECORD
| Season | Club | League Position | FA Cup | League Games | League Goals | FA Cup Games | FA Cup Goals | ||||||
| 1905 | Westcombe Park | ||||||||||||
| 1906 | West Norwood | ||||||||||||
| 1906 | Woolwich Polytechnic | ||||||||||||
| 1906 | Bromley | ||||||||||||
| 1907/08 | Woolwich Arsenal | 14th (First Division) | R1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 1908/09 | Woolwich Arsenal | 6th (First Division) | R2 | 11 | 5 | 2 | |||||||
| 1909/10 | Woolwich Arsenal | 18th (First Division) | R2 | 1 | |||||||||
| 1909/10 | Glossop | 6th (Second Division) | R1 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| 1910/11 | Glossop | 14th (Second Division) | R1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 1910/11 | Bromley | ||||||||||||
| 1910/11 | Woolwich Arsenal | 10th (First Division) | R2 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| 1910/11 | Pilgrims | ||||||||||||
| 1911/12 | Woolwich Arsenal | 10th (First Division) | R1 | 3 | 1 | ||||||||
| 1911/12 | Glossop | 18th (Second Division) | R1 | 11 | 3 | ||||||||
| 1912/13 | Glossop | 18th (Second Division) | R1 | 25 | 9 | 1 | |||||||
| 1913/14 | Glossop | 17th (Second Division) | R2 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1913 | West Norwood | ||||||||||||
| 1913 | Bromley | ||||||||||||
| 1913/14 | Queen’s Park | 16th (Scottish First Division) | |||||||||||
| 1913/14 | Arsenal | 3rd (Second Division) | R1 | ||||||||||
| 1914 | Norfleet | ||||||||||||
| 1914/15 | Arsenal | 5th (Second Division) | R2 | ||||||||||
| 1914 | West Norwood | ||||||||||||
| 1919/20 | Fulham | 6th (Second Division) | R1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||||
| Arsenal | 44 | 18 | 6 | 2 | |||||||||
| Fulham | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Glossop | 51 | 16 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
| Queen’s Park | |||||||||||||
| Totals | 99 | 34 | 10 | 5 | |||||||||
A full list of sources used to create this page can be found here.
