George Jasper Groves (19 October 1868 – 18 February 1941) was an English

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 as a defender, primarily for Sheffield United. He also played first-class

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 ...

for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

Football career

Born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

Groves was an amateur player who played regularly in the

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

area from around 1888 when he represented Heeley. He moved to Sheffield Club later the same year but almost immediately began guesting for nearby Sheffield United (as allowed by FA rules regarding amateurs). After appearing regularly in friendly and exhibition fixtures he was signed on a permanent basis by United in March 1891 and remained with the club until the summer of 1896. Known as 'Mr. Groves' in match reports he was initially a regular for United and was usually named captain but less than a year after joining he moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and from then on would only make irregular appearances for the club. He would also appear as a guest for Woolwich Arsenal during the same period but with the game becoming increasingly professional he drifted away from league football.

Cricket career

Groves played in 17 first-class cricket matches for Nottinghamshire in 1899 and 1900, playing as a lower-middle-order right-handed batsman.

Personal life

Groves was a journalist, covering numerous sports in particular cricket and horse racing. Groves retired to Newmarket after his playing career was over, where he continued to write for the

Sporting Chronicle The ''Sporting Chronicle'', known colloquially as ''The Chron'', was a Manchester-based, daily, national horse racing newspaper which operated in Great Britain for 112 years until its closure in 1983 due to unsustainable losses (£5.8 million sinc ...

until his death. Groves was killed when the Chronicle's offices were hit by a German bomb while he was working on 18 February 1941.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Groves, George 1868 births 1941 deaths Footballers from Nottingham English footballers British civilians killed in World War II Association football defenders Heeley F.C. players Sheffield F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Midland Football League players Northern Football League players English Football League players English cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Deaths by airstrike during World War II