George Henry Farrow (4 October 1913 – 1980) 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 ...

. He played for six clubs in a seventeen-year professional career. In the years before, during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Blackpool were one of the most powerful teams in England, and the trio of George Farrow,

Eric Hayward Lionel Eric Hayward (2 August 1917 – 1976) was an English professional footballer who played as a defender. He was the elder brother of Basil and Doug Hayward. He began his career as an amateur at Port Vale in July 1934, before turning pro ...

and

Harry Johnston Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston (12 June 1858 – 31 July 1927), known as Harry Johnston, was a British explorer, botanist, artist, colonial administrator, and linguist who travelled widely in Africa and spoke many African languages. He publishe ...

became legendary. Farrow's main assets were accurate long-range passes, penalty taking, strong tackling, and a fierce strike of the ball. He was also one of the earliest exponents of the long throw-in. Born in

Whitburn, South Tyneside Whitburn is a village in South Tyneside in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear on the coast of North East England. It is located north of the city of Sunderland and south of the town of South Shields. Historically, Whitburn was a part of ...

, Farrow joined Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic from Wolves in July 1933. Farrow impressed in the struggling third division side. In the 1934/35 season, Farrow was the club's top scorer with 11 league goals and 2 goals in the F.A cup. While at Bournemouth, he was the club's penalty taker. Farrow moved north from Bournemouth in 1936, for a £1,250 fee, and made his debut for ''the Seasiders'' in September of that year, in a home win over

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. He went on to make a further 32 league appearances in the 1936–37 campaign, scoring five goals. Initially an inside-left, he soon moved to wing-half, where his tackling was of more use. At the end of the season, Blackpool won promotion to

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

for only the second time in their existence. A nine-game win streak between 21 November and 1 January assisted the achievement. In 1937–38, Farrow made thirty league appearances and scored another five goals, and the following season appeared in all but four of the club's league games. His only goal of the season was a penalty, Blackpool's second goal in a 2–1 victory at Sunderland on 17 September. Wartime football intervened between August 1939 and May 1945, and when

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

football resumed in 1945–46, Farrow continued where he had left off, making 28 league appearances and scoring six goals. Farrow missed the first eleven games of the 1946–47 campaign, but he went on to appear in 28 of the remaining 31. His one-goal came in his first appearance of the season, a 3–1 victory over Manchester United at

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a single-tier football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the At ...

on 19 October. 1947–48 proved to be Farrow's final season at the seaside. He made sixteen league appearances, scoring three goals, before being transferred to

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in the new year of 1948. He missed out on Blackpool's

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 ...

run, which saw them reach that year's final, only to lose out to Manchester United at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. His final appearance for Blackpool occurred on 3 January, a 5–0 home victory over Everton. He finished his career with Bacup Borough and Whitburn St. Mary's. Farrow died in 1980, and was survived by his wife and two children – a daughter, Julie, and a son, Tony.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Farrow, George 1913 births 1980 deaths English men's footballers Stockport County F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Blackpool F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Bacup Borough F.C. players People from Whitburn, Tyne and Wear Footballers from Tyne and Wear Men's association football defenders