Cornelius Hogan

Cornelius Hogan was a centre forward who played for Fulham during 1903. He was only at the club for a brief period before moving on after only a handful of appearances.

Before Fulham
Cornelius and one of his sisters was born in Malta, a second sister in Nova Scotia in Canada, their father in Ireland and their mother in India. His brother William was born overseas too, but was baptised in Aldershot which gives us a clue to the military background which explains all these far-flung origins, his father being a soldier whose various postings had taken him to exotic places.

Cornelius found himself a mere 4ft 11 1/2 ins when he joinged the Royal Munster Fusiliers as a boy soldier in 1892. His football career took off when he signed for Aston Villa in November 1897 and the club bought him out of the army three months later. His stay at Villa was a brief one and he moved to Millwall at the end of the season without having appeared for the first team.

A single Southern League appearance was all he had to show for his time in London, but he followed this with a couple of seasons with short-lived Football League club New Brighton Tower. He then moved on to Watford, where he started the 1901-02 season as their first team centre forward but only played two matches before moving to Burnley just months later.

It was at Burnley where Cornelius had his most successful time as a professional footballer. He became their first choice centre forward and was top scorer for two seasons running.

Fulham (1903)
Cornelius was one of a huge number of signings made by Fulham in the summer of 1903 after the club's induction into the Southern League. He made his debut in a London League match against Woolwich Arsenal in September 1903 and followed this up with a Southern League debut in which he scored during a 2-2 draw against Southampton the following month.

He only made a further two matches with one more goal before a move to Swindon Town mid-season.

After Fulham
Swindon Town signed Cornelius in November 1903 where he played in the same division as Fulham. He finished off the 1903-04 season with them and managed 5 goals in 13 appearances for them. The rest of his career was spent in Lancashire with St Helen's Recreation, Nelson and Rossendale United.

His father's regimental headquarters had been in Preston and it was in that town that he was residing and working as a tram conductor until 14 March 1909, he sadly passed away by the debilitating effects of phthisis at only 30 years old.