George Brann (23 April 1865 – 14 June 1954) was an English amateur

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er and

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 had a long career with

Sussex County Cricket Club Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The c ...

at the end of the 19th century, and played three matches for the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...

Education

Brann was born in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

, East Sussex and was educated at

Ardingly College Ardingly College () is an independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition located near Ardingly, West Sussex, England. The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and of the Woodard Corp ...

, near

Haywards Heath Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawl ...

, West Sussex, where he spent ten years and represented the school at football.

Football career

After leaving school he joined the

Swifts Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...

based in

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

, who in 1890 merged with Slough Albion and Young Men's Friendly Society to form a new club, Slough F.C., who later became

Slough Town Slough Town Football Club is a semi-professional English football club based in Slough, Berkshire. Nicknamed "The Rebels", the team competes in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football, following promotion from the Sou ...

. Being an amateur, Brann was free to play for more than one club, and he joined the famous amateur club

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

in 1885. He made his first appearance for them in a 3–1 defeat against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

on 28 November 1885. In the 1885–86 season he played eight times for Corinthian, in all five

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

positions, scoring three goals. In the

1885–86 FA Cup The 1885–86 Football Association Challenge Cup was the 15th edition of the FA Cup, England's oldest football tournament. There were 130 entrants, sixteen more than in the previous season, although six teams did not play a match. Five Scottish ...

tournament, Brann was part of the Swifts team, together with Charlie &

Arthur Bambridge Arthur Leopold Bambridge (16 June 1861 – 27 November 1923) was an English footballer who made three appearances either as a full back or as a right winger for England between 1881 and 1884. He was one of three brothers who played for England ...

who reached the sixth round stage, where they were eliminated by the Cup holders

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

. His first

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

appearance came at

Cathkin Park Cathkin Park is a municipal park in Glasgow, Scotland. The park is maintained by the city's parks department, and it is a public place where football is still played. The park contains the site of the second Hampden Park, previously home to the ...

, Glasgow in a 1–1 draw against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on 27 March 1886 in the

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

. England's goal was scored by fellow Corinthian

Tinsley Lindley Dr. Tinsley Lindley OBE (27 October 1865 – 31 March 1940) was an English footballer. He was described as "an ideal centre forward". He scored three goals in his debut aged 16 for Nottingham Forest. He was an amateur who did not wear football ...

. Brann was retained for the next match against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

two days later, and scored in a 3–1 victory. His Corinthian appearances over the next few seasons were fairly infrequent, and he ended his career in 1893, having made 32 appearances, with eight goals. He made his third, and final, England appearance against Wales on 7 March 1891 when he played on the right wing alongside professionals including

Johnny Goodall John Goodall (19 June 1863 – 20 May 1942) was a footballer who rose to fame as a centre forward for England and for Preston North End at the time of the development of the Football League, and also became Watford's first manager in 1903. ...

Jack Southworth John Southworth (11 December 1866 – 16 October 1956), also known as Jack and Skimmy Southworth, was an English footballer who played in the early days of professional football for Blackburn Rovers and Everton as well as being capped three ti ...

Alf Milward Alfred Milward (12 September 1870 – 1 June 1941) was a professional footballer who played in the 1893 and 1897 FA Cup Finals for Everton and in the 1900 FA Cup Final for Southampton. Early career Born in Great Marlow, Milward was one of the ...

and

Edgar Chadwick Edgar Wallace Chadwick (14 June 1869 – 14 February 1942) was a left-sided footballer who had a long and distinguished career with Everton during the 1890s. He was also the national coach for the Netherlands from 1908 to 1913. His cousin, ...

. England were too strong for the Welsh and won 4–1, with each of the other forwards scoring.

Cricket career

He made his debut for

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

in May 1883 although he made little impact scoring a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

as Sussex won by an innings and 42 runs but his career really began in 1885. His highest first-class score was 161 against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...

in 1899, although he did score 219 against Hampshire in a non-first-class match in June 1886. In 1899 he and

C. B. Fry Charles Burgess Fry (25 April 1872 – 7 September 1956) was an English sportsman, teacher, writer, editor and publisher, who is best remembered for his career as a cricketer. John Arlott described him with the words: "Charles Fry could b ...

opened the two Sussex innings against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

with partnerships of 135 and 148. In 1892 he enjoyed what was then the rare distinction of scoring two

centuries A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

in a match – 105 and 101 against

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. This had only been achieved previously by

W. G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...

(three times) and William Lambert, also of Sussex. Brann went to Australia in 1887–88 as a member of

Arthur Shrewsbury Arthur Shrewsbury (11 April 1856 – 19 May 1903) was an English cricketer and rugby football administrator. He was widely rated as competing with W. G. Grace for the accolade of best batsman of the 1880s; Grace himself, when asked whom he wou ...

's Team, visited South Africa under

Walter Read Walter William Read (born 23 November 1855 in Reigate, Surrey, died 6 January 1907 in Addiscombe Park, Surrey) was an English cricketer. A fluent right hand bat, he was also an occasional bowler of lobs who sometimes switched to quick overa ...

in 1891–92 and America in 1899 when K. S. Ranjitsinhji was captain. According to his obituary in

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

, he was "originally a very free batsman and powerful hitter, utforsook his dashing methods during his last few years of county cricket, ndalthough becoming a far more watchful type of batsman he continued to make many runs".Obituaries in 1954
Espncricinfo His last significant season was 1904, although his final first-class match for Sussex was against

in June 1905.Sussex v Cambridge University; June 1905 (Match summary)
Cricketarchive.com. Retrieved on 2018-05-03. In his first-class career, he scored a total of 11,205 runs at an average of 25.69, including twenty-five centuries for Sussex. Standing nearly six feet tall, he was also a fine fielder taking 145 catches during his career; as a fast bowler he claimed 69 wickets at an average of 44.31.

Life outside sport

After retiring from cricket he became a good golfer and was secretary to the Home Park Golf Club in Surbiton for twenty years. He was a career

schoolteacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. wh ...

, teaching at his former school,

. He died at his home at

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the historic county of Surrey and since 1965 it has ...

, Surrey, on 14 June 1954, aged 89.

References

External links

* *
CricketArchive profileEngland football profile at www.englandfc.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brann, George 1865 births 1954 deaths Sportspeople from Eastbourne People educated at Ardingly College English footballers England international footballers Swifts F.C. players Corinthian F.C. players English cricketers Sussex cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers North v South cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Gentlemen of the South cricketers East of England cricketers Association football forwards A. J. Webbe's XI cricketers