George Edwards (2 December 1920 – 21 October 2008) was a Welsh international

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 ...

. After making his

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 ...

debut for Swansea Town, his career was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. He turned professional with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

in 1944 before joining

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

four years later. He represented

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 ...

at international level, winning twelve caps.

Football career

Club career

Born in

Treherbert Treherbert () is a village and community situated at the head of the Rhondda Fawr valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Historically part of Glamorgan, Treherbert is a former industrial coal mining village which was at its eco ...

, Edwards began his football career at Swansea Town as an amateur and made his debut 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 ...

at the end of the 1938–39 season. During the early years of the Second World War, he continued to study for a degree at

Swansea University , former_names=University College of Swansea, University of Wales Swansea , motto= cy, Gweddw crefft heb ei dawn , mottoeng="Technical skill is bereft without culture" , established=1920 – University College of Swansea 1996 – University of Wa ...

while still playing for Swansea Town. Called up to serve in the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, he was stationed in the Midlands, and guested for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

on a number of occasions. He turned professional with

in 1944, contributing to the club winning the championship of the

Football League South The Football League North and Football League South divisions of the Football League were created temporarily for the League to continue through the Second World War while limiting the amount of movement that was required by teams. The leagues star ...

wartime league and reaching the semi-final of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

in the 1945–46 season, and winning 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 ...

title in the 1947–48 season. In December 1948 he returned to Wales to sign for

for £12,000. He made his debut in a 2–2 draw with

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

before scoring on his home debut in a 6–1 victory over

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

. He helped the Bluebirds to

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

as Second Division runners-up in the 1951–52 season and began forming a partnership with striker

Wilf Grant Wilfred Grant (3 August 1920 – 17 July 1990) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward for Southampton, Cardiff City and Ipswich Town. Playing career Early career Grant was born in Bedlington and as a youth played for ...

. He decided to retire in 1955 while still first choice for Cardiff.

International career

Edwards first represented his country as an amateur in 1938, and played for Wales in wartime internationals and for Services representative sides. He made his debut for

in their first post-war international match, a 3–1 victory over

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 ...

in October 1946, and won a total of twelve full caps during his career, scoring two goals.

Outside football

Edwards continued his studies while a Birmingham player, completing a thesis on the history of the 'Daucleddau Coalfield', a major part of the

Pembrokeshire Coalfield The Pembrokeshire Coalfield in West Wales is one of the smallest British coalfields, but continuously worked from the 14th to 20th centuries. The main coalfield extends across south Pembrokeshire from Saundersfoot on Carmarthen Bay westwards to Bro ...

, to gain an

MA degree A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

from the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

.Connop-Price 2004. ''Pembrokeshire: the forgotten coalfield'' Landmark Publishing, Ashbourne, Derbyshire In his later years as a Cardiff City player, he began a business career, working part-time for an oil company. In 1957 he was invited to join the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of Cardiff City, a directorship which he held for twenty-five years in two spells. He wrote a Sunday newspaper column, reported on Cardiff City matches for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

, and was a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

in Cardiff for many years. He was active on the Sports Council for Wales (now Sport Wales) from its establishment in 1972, and within the

Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; cy, Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, Welsh national foo ...

. Edwards was married to Pat, and had no children. He died in

Llandough Hospital University Hospital Llandough ( cy, Ysbyty Llandochau Prifysgol) is a district general hospital in Llandough, Penarth, Wales. It is managed by the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. History In the first decade the 20th century the Cardif ...

, Cardiff, on 21 October 2008 at the age of 87.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, George 1920 births 2008 deaths People from Treherbert Sportspeople from Rhondda Cynon Taf Welsh footballers Wales international footballers Wales wartime international footballers Swansea City A.F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players English Football League players Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Alumni of Swansea University Alumni of the University of Birmingham Cardiff City F.C. directors and chairmen Wales amateur international footballers Association football outside forwards