Eric Litchfield

Early life

Litchfield was born in West Derby, Lancashire on 21 September 1920 and educated at Bedford Modern School. He left school at the age of 16 to join Bedford Town F.C. but was also a strong cricketer who had been offered a place at Northamptonshire.

Football and World War II

Litchfield joined Newcastle United F.C. in January 1939 but, just as he was starting to establish himself, the war broke out and he was restricted to just two games, one in each of the 1939-40 and 1942-43 seasons. He joined the Royal Air Force but still managed to make guest appearances as a footballer during the war years (for Millwall, Reading, York and Northampton) and was a sports journalist on several service newspapers.

Litchfield made his debut for Leeds against York in the first game of the 1941-42 Football League Northern Section (First Championship) and in that season he scored his first goal for Leeds against Bradford.

Journalism

After the war, Litchfield emigrated to South Africa where he became a journalist and author, initially in Durban with the Natal Mercury before moving to The Rand Daily Mail in 1949. He became sports editor of The Rand Daily Mail in 1956 and was later sports editor of the Cape Times between 1970 and 1982.

Authorship

Litchfield wrote "The Springbok Story From The Inside" in 1960 followed by two books devoted to football: "Goals In The Sun" in 1963 and "Book of Soccer" in 1965. His writing later turned to cricket with "Cricket Grand Slam" about South Africa's test series against Australia in 1969 and, with D.J. (Jackie) McGlew, "Six for Glory" in 1967.

Litchfield was made a Life Member of the National Football League for his contribution to the establishment of professional football in South Africa.

Personal life

Litchfield married Gillian Mai Johnston in 1948 and they had one son. He was working as the new editor of the Protea Cricket Annual of South Africa when he died in Cape Town on 23 July 1982.