Background
Litchfield was born in West Derby, Lancashire on 21 September 1920 and educated at Bedford Modern School.
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Eric Litchfield
Edit ProfileCareer
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. Litchfield joined Newcastle United F.C. in January 1939 but, just as we was starting to establish himself, the war broke out and he was restricted to just two games, one in each of the 1939-1940 and 1942-1943 seasons. He joined the Royal Air Force but still managed to make guest appearances as a football player 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 1941-1942 Football League Northern Section (First Championship) and in that season he scored his first goal for Leeds against Bradford.
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.
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 Doctorate.J. (Jackie) McGlew, "Six for Glory" in 1967.
Membership
Litchfield was made a Life Member of the National Football League for his contribution to the establishment of professional football in South Africa.
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Born
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Died
July 23, 1982 (aged 61) -
Nationality
British