George Campbell (1 December 1864 – 4 April 1898) was a Scottish
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 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
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
.
Career
Campbell began his senior career with local club Renton, who had become established as one of Scotland's leading teams (at that time there were two other Campbells in the line-up,
Johnny
Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females.
Varian ...
and Harry, but none of the three men were related). He came into the side at half back after several key players moved on in the wake of Renton's
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,unofficial 'World Championship' wins in 1888. The replacements also performed strongly, winning a
Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup
The Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup was a knockout football tournament open to teams from in and around Glasgow and later on in the tournament's history, teams from outwith Glasgow. Invitations were made and sent out by the Glasgow Charity Cup ...
and being invited to join the
Scottish Football League
The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...
in its first season of 1890–91, only for the Dunbartonshire club and its players to be expelled from the then-amateur competition for matters relating to professionalism. On a personal level, Campbell was invited to a trial for the
Scotland national team
The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the thr ...
in March 1890, but did not go further in the selection process after some players absent from the trials became available again.
After Renton's expulsion, Campbell soon signed for English
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 ...
club
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
along with former teammate Jimmy Brown;Player #73 George Campbell AVFC History at the time of the 1891 census the pair were lodging together in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
along with
Jimmy Cowan
Quinton James Cowan (born 6 March 1982) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer. He first played for the All Blacks – New Zealand's national team – during the 2004 tour to the United Kingdom and France, and played his last Test match for t ...
who had come from the same district in Scotland. While Cowan went on to great success with Villa, Campbell and Brown remained on the fringes of the team – neither played in the
1892 FA Cup Final
The 1892 FA Cup Final was contested by West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa at the Kennington Oval. This was the last FA Cup Final to be played at Kennington Oval due to the Surrey Cricket authorities becoming increasingly alarmed at the large cr ...
, and both left the club and went their separate ways during 1893 (Brown joined Leicester Fosse).
Campbell transferred back to Scotland with
Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
, playing in their first-ever season after a merger of two older clubs (prompted by the eventual legalisation of professional contracts in the SFL, with larger clubs seen as more likely to prosper). He was appointed Dundee captain and remained there until the end of the 1894–95 seasonGeorge Campbell Player Profile Dee Archive at which point he had to retire from the game due to ill health, which later led to his death in 1898. The Scottish Referee, 8 April 1898, scan via London Hearts Supporters Club