Hammond Jim Image 2 Fulham 1934

Description

Brighton, Sussex born centre forward Herbert Edward “Jim” Hammond played junior football for Robin’s Athletic in 1926 and Lewes in 1927 from where he signed for Third Division (South) Fulham in 1928 and made his Football League debut at Merthyr Town in March 1929. His career best 33 goals in the 1931-32 when he was an ever present. including 4 goals in a 10-2 victory over Torquay United in September 1931 and a hat-trick against Thames Association in March 1932, propelled Fulham to the Third Division (South) Championship in 1932, and he continued to be a consistent scorer in the Second Division until his retirement at the end of 1937-38, by which time he had scored 151 goals in 342 games over 10 seasons for The Cottagers. He was the club’s leading goalscorer in 1931, 1934, 1935, and 1936 but unsurprisingly not in 1932 when he was still some way short of Frank Newton’s tremendous 47 goal haul.

In December 1932 he was selected for the England squad for their 4-3 win over Austria at Stamford Bridge but he was a non playing reserve and never won a full England cap, although he won an England Amateur international cap in March 1928 when he played in a 2-1 win over Wales at Ninian Park, Cardiff. He scored 4 times for Fulham against Sheffield United in April 1935, and he scored his last hat-trick of eight trebles for The Cottagers against Coventry City in December 1937. When he eventually retired in 1938, it was forced on him by injury. His nickname was “The Galloping Hairpin”.

For many years he played cricket for Sussex, playing 196 first class matches for the county, for whom he had a batting average of 18.73 scoring 4,251 runs with a highest score of 103 not out and a bowling average of 28.71, taking 428 wickets, and he later became an umpire after his playing retirement.