George Alfred Bellis (8 June 1904 – 1969) was an English professional

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 ...

who played as a defender. Bellis' father was serving with the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

in India when his son was born. The family moved back to England soon after and settled in Seaforth, Lancashire, where Bellis began to excel at football. He was playing open-age football for top Bootle league side Seaforth Fellowship when he was just sixteen years old and signed for Formby United in August 1921, aged 17. After two seasons he moved to

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

for three years before moving to fellow

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

side

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

in 1927. He scored on his debut for the Welsh club, the only goal in a 1–0 win at

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

, and became a mainstay of the team's defence. Bellis graduated to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

to play with

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in 1929, and was part of the championship-winning side of 1931–32. Bellis's stay in the top flight lasted only a matter of months before he joined

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

in December 1932. He was soon awarded the captaincy. In the close season of 1935 Bellis joined his final league club, Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic in

Division Three South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to o ...

. In 1937, aged 33, he left to join

Wellington Town Telford United Football Club was an English football club based in Telford, Shropshire. The club existed under various names for a total of 132 years from its formation in 1872. The club was a founder member of the Alliance Premier League (la ...

. He later moved back to Seaforth and died in the area in 1969, aged 64.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellis, George 1904 births 1969 deaths People from Seaforth, Merseyside Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton Footballers from Merseyside English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Formby F.C. players Southport F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Burnley F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Telford United F.C. players English Football League players