By Zac Welshman
After making over 500 competitive appearances across 12 years, few players past and present can match Danny Bracken’s longevity and influence at Corinthian-Casuals. But Dave Hodges, who played 319 games across six and a half seasons, many alongside Bracken, certainly comes close. The pair shared the pitch for almost the entirety of Hodges’ career at the Casuals, both playing crucial roles in a side that challenged expectations, experienced play-off heartbreak, and represented the club on the world stage.
To celebrate Bracken’s Casuals career, Hodges will join a host of teammates and familiar faces to don the chocolate and pink once more on 6 May, so he joined us to reminisce on his time at Corinthian-Casuals and his relationship with his former captain.
Hodges signed for the club in July 2010 as a relatively unknown trialist after playing Sunday League football with then-reserve goalkeeper Ricky Bowry. But he quickly found his place within Casuals folklore by scoring the winning goal in the Surrey Senior Cup final against Leatherhead during his debut campaign. And although a further six and a half seasons at the club included plenty more memorable moments, that early success remains a highlight.
“I think it was the first trophy they’d won since the fifties. We went on an amazing run at the end of the season and to score in the final against a good Leatherhead side was really special. There were so many special moments with special people, but winning trophies stand out.”
A young Bracken also joined the Casuals in the 2010/11 season. Initially arriving on loan from Tooting & Mitcham, the teenage goalkeeper didn’t immediately adjust to men’s football.
“He was quite shy in the first season or so, and he had an injury for most of the second,” recalls Hodges, “but by then had grown up a little bit. He became very confident, you could see he was a quality goalkeeper and he was always confident on the pitch, but he had grown up on the social side as well.
“He’d start to come out for a drink or two with us, he couldn’t handle it very much back then! I’ll find out on the 6th if he can now!”
By his third season, Bracken had solidified his place in the side and it became clear his spot as No1 was his to keep.
“He was clearly a top-quality keeper, so it was kind of up to him. If he wanted to stay and do amazing things at Corinthian-Casuals then he could do that. And he was capable of playing at a higher level, but in his character, I think he’s very loyal. Once you get to know him and his traits, it’s no surprise that he got to over 500 appearances and achieved more than I think anyone could’ve thought possible.”
Hodges is also keen to emphasise his former captain’s leadership qualities.
“He’s a great captain, he’s a captain that leads by example and he was always very supportive of his team-mates, he could speak up for people and support people. He was a genuinely nice guy which makes a difference. He was the outstanding player for over a decade for the club, and that’s a testament to the fact he deserved to be captain for a number of years.”
As senior members of the squad, both Bracken and Hodges revelled in the club’s history and tradition with their team-mates.
“The core of every team I was fortunate enough to play with at Corinthian-Casuals bought into that spirit and togetherness of ‘we’re something different in this division, we’re not the same as everyone else and we’re proud of that. We love the game and we love playing for a club that had that background and tradition.
Some of the teams were more successful than others, but all of them achieved things each year that people might’ve thought they couldn’t, and that was driven by the dedication to succeed but to do it for a club that you love because of the difference that we had to other teams. It was our uniqueness.”
And the Casuals side of 2014/15 were lucky enough to experience that tradition first hand as filmmaker, former Casuals player, and fellow testimonial attendee Chris Watney worked with BT Sport to tell the story of the “Brothers in Football”, a documentary detailing the club’s rich connection with Corinthians Paulista, a story which culminated in the Casuals heading to Brazil to take on the two-time Club World Cup champions at the 49,205-capacity Neo Quimicia Arena
“It was the most amazing experience,” Hodges remembers. “We were mobbed at the airport, everywhere we went people knew who we were, we did shirt signings and did outreach things in the community. But the highlight was walking out onto the pitch, full stands and a cacophony of noise, it was like being a professional footballer for a day and to do it with people who you knew so well was special.”
The Casuals suffered a cruel late defeat on the Brazilian stage, but for the players who travelled to the other side of the world in the latest demonstration of the club’s global reach, the result was secondary.
“We got to do things you don’t think you can as a non-league footballer, I wouldn’t have changed the way I did it for the world.”
Back home, under the stewardship of Bracken’s older brother James, who will also revise his role from the dugout on 6 May, the Casuals went from strength to strength. But Hodges was quick not to over-emphasise the relationship between his former manager and goalkeeper.
“James put 11 men on the pitch and gave them directions on how he wanted them to perform,” he says. “Danny was one of those 11, he wasn’t anything different in that sense. James just treated Danny as a player, maybe he’d be harder on his brother partly because he was one of, if not the best player for us at the time. But they were their own individuals, I never saw them as a partnership – they were a brilliant goalkeeper and brilliant manager that happened to be brothers.”
James oversaw a side that went above and beyond expectations, a controversial points deduction denied the side a play-off spot in 2015/16 after a Hodges suspension, declared improperly served by the FA, resulted in a 6th-place finish on the final day.
“It was a joke. The amount of effort everyone put in, with no resources to make the play-offs in that division, there was no guarantee that it would happen again.”
But the club bounced back the following year, this time securing a play-off spot and after beating Greenwich Borough in the semi-final, fell agonisingly at the final hurdle after Hodges’ penalty was saved.
“That was my fault! We played Dorking and we’d had an amazing win away at Greenwich, despite being down to 10 men after 10 minutes, so that was a very low point in what was an incredible team performance and thankfully they got promoted the year after. It was no more than James and the team deserved.”
Hodges had left the club midway through that 2017/18 promotion season after having relocated to Delhi for his work with Virgin Atlantic. Still a Casuals fan at heart, he kept an eye on the club’s fortunes. He reflected on hearing that Danny Bracken had left the club shortly after James’ departure in 2022.
“I was surprised and obviously disappointed for the club,” he says. “To lose somebody of his quality and his character is always disappointing. Also from a selfish perspective, I always keep an eye on Corinthian-Casual's results, but it’s a bit of an end to an era, in terms of the core squad we had for quite a few years when I was there. But these things happen, and I’m delighted the club honour his service because he 100 per cent deserves it.”
With many more stories to recall, Danny Bracken’s testimonial game on Saturday 6 May will be an occasion to remember for Casuals past and present. The game kicks off at 2.30pm but be sure to get down to the United Business Group Stadium at King George’s Field early to see the legends of the past decade return home for what promises to be a memorable afternoon.
