Personal Life
Hodgson is known to be a fan of the authors Sebastian Faulks, John Updike, Philip Roth and Saul Bellow. Hodgson, who has a rhotacism speech impediment, is multilingual: in addition to his native English, he speaks fluent Norwegian, Swedish, German and Italian, as well as some Danish, French and Finnish.
Although Hodgson played for Berea Park in South Africa's white-only National Football League during the 1970s, he has stated his admiration for Nelson Mandela and coached a World XI team in a charity football event in Mandela's honour in August 1999. Upon his appointment as the manager of England's national football team in May 2012 he was asked about his time during the apartheid era; he stated that he only played in South Africa for footballing reasons, as did his team mates at the club and not because of a political belief.
Read more about this topic: Roy Hodgson
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