Hodgson back home

Paul Hodgson took The Rugby Club to the scene of his first ever match to reflect on his early days.

Hodgson takes us back to Sutton & EpsomPaul Hodgson took The Rugby Club to the scene of his first ever match to reflect on the early days of his career. The London Irish and England player was introduced to the world rugby barely a week into his life when his parents took him to their hometown club in Sutton & Epsom. Hodgson would go on to represent Sutton & Epsom at every age group before joining Bristol Shoguns, then London Irish where he has worked his way into Martin Johnson's England plans. But despite his rise to prominence, Hodgson says he still loves to return to Sutton & Epson so he can to catch up with his friends and his rugby-mad family. He said: "They say you could get too much rugby, but even though it's still the same sport it's still an escape. "I come down here to catch up with all of my friends that I played with through the ranks. My mum, dad and both of my sisters live five minutes away and they come down here as well. "My mum and dad love rugby, they watch every single game on TV. "They're in their retirement years and they aren't big travellers, but they'll come to every single home and away game whether it's in Europe or up at Newcastle. "There was chat when I was 15 or 16 that they were going to take over the rugby club, so we would have been living there. That would have been even more weird. "Even so, it is my second home because I came down here when I was a week old - and have been ever since."

Memories

And Hodgson says he has some fond memories of the club where his debut England shirt now hangs on the wall. "Me and my mates used to dart around inside the club house," he continued. "Obviously being short, or shorter than I am now, we were diving in and out of all of the men while they were getting drunk and spilling beer. "At the end of the day my hair would turn hard because the beer had dried out. "My mum would be at home scrubbing my hair, and that's one of my biggest memories of back then. "When we were ball boys, the bath used to be like a swimming pool for us. "We used to dive off the side and on one particular occasion I dived off and chipped my front tooth. "It's not as deep as I remember!"

Stars

And Hodgson was also keen to stress the importance of local and junior rugby clubs in raising the stars of tomorrow. He said: "Obviously I'm not alone. All of the other Premiership players came through junior clubs like this. "It's so important that they keep thriving because they are producing all of these young players. "I've heard the numbers down here have increased, every year they get larger numbers, and it's so important to produce players. "Hopefully they will eventually get in the international team."