Stephen Hunt (footballer born 1981)

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Stephen Hunt
Personal information
Full name	Stephen Patrick Hunt
Date of birth	1 August 1981 (1981-08-01) (age 27)
Place of birth	County Laois, Ireland
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position	Winger
Club information
Current club	Reading
Number	10
Youth career
	Crystal Palace
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998–2001 2001–2005 2005–	Crystal Palace Brentford Reading	003 0(0) 136 (25) 140 (17)
National team2
2000 2007–	Republic of Ireland U21 Republic of Ireland	001 0(0) 016 0(1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 2 February 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 18:12, 12 February 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Stephen Patrick Hunt (born 1 August 1981 in Portlaoise, County Laois) is an Irish footballer. His position is left midfield, and he plays professionally for Reading. He previously played for Brentford and Crystal Palace. His younger brother, Noel Hunt, is also a footballer, and joined Reading in 2008.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Early years 1.2 Reading 2 International career 3 Honours 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early years

Hunt became known for his creative and skillful play as well as his work rate as a winger. Although born in Laois, Hunt grew up in Clonea-Power, Waterford. He was a talented underage hurler and soccer player. He played for Waterford hurlers at under-15 and under-16 levels.^[1] Hunt's first introduction to organised football was when he moved to the Mount Sion secondary school in Waterford at the age of 11. During his time at secondary school he also began playing for local soccer side Johnville. This gained Hunt a degree of recognition and he played in the Kennedy Cup with Waterford County. He later excelled for Carrick United at various age levels, before going to England starting his career as a trainee with Crystal Palace. Failing to make an impact on the first team, Hunt had trials with clubs including Dundee United^[2] before leaving to join Brentford. In his four years at the West London club, he became an integral part of the team. In 2007, Stephen revealed that during his time at Brentford, he would often earn extra money, as a Sylvester Stallone lookalike, attending parties and events.

In 2005, Hunt decided to leave Brentford, and rejected a new contract. After agreeing to join Bradford City, late interest from Reading, then in the Football League Championship, made him change his mind.

[edit] Reading

Hunt was unfortunate to be denied more starting appearances in his first Reading season by the form of Bobby Convey. He still made a good contribution, appearing from the bench, as Reading marched to the Championship title and promotion to the Premiership during the 2005–06 season.

On 14 October 2006, Hunt and Chelsea's goalkeeper Petr Čech challenged for the ball in the first minute of a league game at the Madejski Stadium, resulting in a collision between Čech's head and Hunt's knee and Čech undergoing surgery for a depressed fracture of the skull.^[3] Following the incident officials and players of not just the two clubs involved, pundits, footballer representatives and even MPs expressed views either condemning^[4] or supporting^[5] Hunt and the others involved in the aftermath of the incident. The FA eventually confirmed that no action would be taken against Hunt^[6] but, in the mean time, both Hunt and team-mate Ibrahima Sonko, involved in a collision in the same match with Čech's replacement Carlo Cudicini, had received deaths threats from alleged Chelsea fans.^[7][8][9]

On 9 July 2007, Hunt signed an improved three year contract to keep him at Reading until the end of the 2009-10 season.^[10] During the January 2008 transfer window, Reading rejected £2.5m,^[11][12]£3m,^[13] £4.5m,^[14] then finally £5m^[15] bids from Sunderland for Hunt, but Reading confirmed that they had no intention of selling players during the January 2009 transfer window.^[11][12]

On 1 February 2009, Hunt signed a new deal with Reading keeping him at the club until the summer of 2011.^[16] In 2007–08, Hunt scored 6 goals in 39 appearances for Reading's first team. On February 4 2009, Reading confirmed that Hunt had signed a new three and a half year contract, that would keep him at the club until the summer of 2012.^[17]

[edit] International career

Hunt earned his first cap for the Republic of Ireland in their 2-1 win away to San Marino on 7 February 2007, coming on as a substitute.^[18] He earned his second cap in their 1-0 home win against Wales on 24 March 2007, again coming on as a substitute.^[19]

Hunt then made a substitute appearance in Ireland's 1-0 defeat to the Czech Republic on 12 September 2007. However, he was sent off by Greek referee Kyros Vassaras following a challenge on Jan Polák, with later reports suggesting this was a harsh decision as Hunt had appeared to win the ball.^[20]

[edit] Honours

Hunt was voted by Reading supporters as the official Player of the Month for October 2006, taking 25.3% of the vote.^[21]

He came third in Readings player of the year vote in 2007 behind Ivar Ingimarsson and Nicky Shorey.^[22]

Hunt was voted by Reading supporters as the official Player of the Year for the 2007–08 season.^[23]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Stephen Hunt profile at readingfc.co.uk
• Stephen Hunt career stats at Soccerbase

v • d • e Reading F.C. – current squad 1 Hahnemann • 2 Murty • 3 Armstrong • 4 Cissé • 6 Gunnarsson • 7 Matějovský • 8 Lita • 9 Doyle • 10 S. Hunt • 11 N. Hunt • 14 Kébé • 15 Harper • 16 Ingimarsson • 17 Kitson • 18 Sodje • 21 Karacan • 22 Rosenior • 23 Bikey • 24 Long • 26 Pearce • 29 Duberry • 31 Harding • 32 Federici • 33 Golbourne • 37 Tabb • 40 Hateley • 42 Kelly • 43 Spence • 49 McCarthy • 52 Little • Manager: Coppell

Persondata
NAME	Hunt, Stephen Patrick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	1 August 1981
PLACE OF BIRTH	County Laois, Republic of Ireland
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH