George Rowlands Antonio (20 October 1914 – 2 July 1997) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

of Italian descent who played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Career

Antonio was born in

Whitchurch, Shropshire Whitchurch is a market town in the north of Shropshire, England. It lies east of the Welsh border, 2 miles south of the Cheshire border, north of the county town of Shrewsbury, south of Chester, and east of Wrexham. At the 2011 Census, the ...

, starting in the same county with non-league Oswestry Town before joining

in 1935. He made his Stoke debut against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

on the final day of the 1935–36 season and established himself in the side the following season. He scored twice in a 10–3 win over

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

, Stoke's record victory. He played quite regularly in the next two seasons sharing positions with

Bobby Liddle Robert Liddle (11 April 1908 – 12 April 1972) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Stoke City. Career Liddle was born in Gateshead and at the age of 19 he was working as a miner at Washington Colliery also playi ...

. In 1938 he was selected by the Wales Football Association for placing as an international for Wales but was dropped when he was discovered to have been born in England.He is incorrectly given as 'George (Antonio) Rowlands'. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, during which he served in the army with the

North Staffordshire Regiment The North Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, which was in existence between 1881 and 1959. The 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot was created on 21 April 1758 from the 2nd Battali ...

, he guested for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

making three appearances in 1939–40 and seven appearances scoring 2 goals in 1940–41. In the 1945–46 season, he guested for

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

as well as a number of other clubs. He played 16 times for Stoke in 1946–47 season scoring five goals before joining

in March 1947. In the year he was at Derby he played 18 matches and scored twice. He joined

for the 1948–49 season appearing 34 times and scoring seven goals, then signed for

from 1949 to 1950 playing 67, scoring twice.

Career statistics

Source:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Antonio, George 1914 births 1997 deaths People from Whitchurch, Shropshire Footballers from Shropshire English footballers English people of Italian descent Men's association football inside forwards Oswestry Town F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Telford United F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Berriew F.C. players English Football League players Nottingham Forest F.C. wartime guest players Ipswich Town F.C. wartime guest players York City F.C. wartime guest players English football managers Italian British sportspeople North Staffordshire Regiment soldiers Stafford Rangers F.C. managers Oswestry Town F.C. managers