Arthur Hughes was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 professional footballer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 who played as a forward

Striker

Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...

 for various clubs in the 1900s.

Playing career

Born in Birkenhead

Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

, he started his career with his local club Birkenhead F.C. before joining Tranmere Rovers

Tranmere Rovers F.C.

Tranmere Rovers Football Club are an English team based in Birkenhead, Wirral. The club currently compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system...

. In May 1907, he moved to Bolton Wanderers

Bolton Wanderers F.C.

Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....

 for a season (in which he failed to make a first team appearance) before moving to the south coast to join Southern League

Southern Football League

The Southern League is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from the South West, South Central and Midlands of England and South Wales...

 Southampton

Southampton F.C.

Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...

 in the summer of 1908.

He was recruited by Southampton to act as cover for George Smith, but shortly after the move Smith collapsed and died in July. Hughes immediately took Smith’s place on a pre-season tour of Europe. For Hughes the tour was a great success, scoring freely including a hat-trick against The Hague

ADO Den Haag

Alles Door Oefening Den Haag , commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag , is a Dutch football club from the city of The Hague. The club was for a time known as FC Den Haag , with ADO representing the amateur branch of the club...

.

Hughes started the 1908–09 season as centre-forward in spectacular fashion with ten goals in his first ten games, including a hat-trick in the 6–0 defeat of Luton Town

Luton Town F.C.

Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. The club currently competes in the fifth tier of English football, the Conference National, for the third consecutive season during the 2011–12 season.Formed in 1885, it was...

 on 12 September 1908. According to Holley & Chalk’s "The Alphabet of the Saints" Hughes had "fine ball control" and "equally happy using either foot...he distributed the ball with panache". A serious leg injury sustained in the match at Watford

Watford F.C.

Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as Watford F.C., Watford, or by the team's nickname The Hornets . Watford Rovers, Founded in 1881, entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1886, and the Southern League a decade...

 on 21 November (in which he scored the only goal) sidelined him for several matches. Although he returned to first team action in January he was unable to regain his early season form but still finished the season as the club’s top scorer

Southampton F.C. seasons

This is a list of seasons played by Southampton Football Club in English and European football, from 1892 to the most recent completed season. The first six seasons are Southampton St. Mary's....

 with 15 goals from 21 appearances.

At the end of the season he decided to return to Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

 where he signed for Manchester City

Manchester City F.C.

Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...

 although he never made an appearance for their first team.

After retiring from football, he took up employment as a bricklayer

Bricklayer

A bricklayer or mason is a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The term also refers to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. In British and Australian English, a bricklayer is colloquially known as a "brickie".The training of a trade in...

 working for the Birkenhead

Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

municipal corporation.