George Andrew Bristow (25 June 1933 – 3 January 2010) 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 ...

who played as a

right half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for Brentford. He made over 260 appearances in all competitions and was posthumously inducted into the Brentford Hall of Fame in May 2015.

Career

Brentford

, Bristow joined Brentford at a young age and came through the youth ranks to make his debut at the age of 17 in a 4–0

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 ...

defeat to Manchester City on 14 October 1950. During his

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

, Bristow turned down a move to follow former teammate Peter Broadbent to First Division club

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 ...

. After completing his National Service and a period as a guest with Dorset League club Blandford United, it wasn't until the 1953–54 season that Bristow was able to hold down a regular first team place and he made 27 appearances in a campaign which saw the Bees relegated to the

Third Division 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 ...

. In February 1956, Bristow was awarded a testimonial versus an International Managers XI and was the club's youngest player to be granted the honour. Bristow's best years at Brentford came in the 1957–58 and 1958–59 seasons and he made over 40 appearances in each. Injuries took their toll on Bristow and he departed the club at the end of the 1960–61 season, after making 264 appearances for the club and scoring eight goals. He was posthumously inducted into the Brentford Hall of Fame in May 2015.

Queens Park Rangers

Bristow and Brentford teammates

Jim Towers Edwin James Towers (15 April 1933 – 16 September 2010) was an English professional footballer, best remembered for his time as a centre forward in the Football League with Brentford. He is the club's all-time leading goalscorer and in 2013 wa ...

and George Francis joined Brentford's West London rivals

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

during the 1961 off-season. He suffered an

achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pele ...

injury during a

pre-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

match, which ended his professional career. Bristow failed to appear for the first team and left the club at the end of the 1961–62 Third Division season.

Yiewsley

After his release from Queens Park Rangers, Bristow dropped into non-League football and joined Southern League First Division club

Yiewsley Yiewsley ( ) is a large suburban village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, 2 miles (3 km) south of Uxbridge, the borough's commercial and administrative centre. Yiewsley was a chapelry in the ancient parish of Hillingdon, Middl ...

in 1962.

Personal life

Bristow undertook his National Service as a PT instructor at Blandford Camp and represented his battalion's football team. He was married to Maureen and had two daughters. After his retirement from football, Bristow worked as a

driving instructor A driving instructor is a person who is hired by a new driver who is learning how to improve their skills - often for an upcoming practical test. Different countries have different rules regarding permits and other regulations. Driving instructors ...

, at Heathrow Airport and as of April 1995, he had worked as a self-employed bricklayer for the previous 25 years. He died in January 2010, after suffering with

Parkinson's Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

and Alzheimer's diseases.

Career statistics

Honours

* Brentford Hall of Fame

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bristow, George 1933 births Footballers from Chiswick English footballers Brentford F.C. players English Football League players 2010 deaths Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Hillingdon Borough F.C. players Southern Football League players Association football wing halves Blandford United F.C. players Deaths from Parkinson's disease Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Deaths from dementia in England Neurological disease deaths in England