George Holley (20 November 1885 – 27 August 1942) 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 le ...

who spent most of his career as an

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

with

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, helping them claim

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 ...

title in

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

. He was also joint top scorer in the First Division in 1911–12 and represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

ten times, scoring eight goals.

Career

Sunderland

Holley was born in

Seaham Seaham is a seaside town in County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as a result of investments in its harbour and c ...

, County Durham and played local football for three different Seaham clubs: Seaham Athletic, Seaham Villa and

Wearside League The Wearside Football League is a non-league football competition based in northern England. It consists of three divisions which sits at steps 7 to 9 (or levels 11 to 13) of the National League System and is a feeder to the Northern League Di ...

champions Seaham White Star before joining

in November 1904. Initially, Holley played in the reserves where he was a regular goal-scorer, although he made a scoring debut in the First Division on 27 December 1904 away to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

. Following the transfer of

Alf Common Alfred Common (25 May 1880 in Millfield (Sunderland) – 3 April 1946 in Darlington) was an English footballer who played at inside forward or centre forward. He is most famous for being the first player to be transferred for a fee of £1,000 ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

in February 1905, Holley became a first team regular. In his first few seasons at

Roker Park Roker Park was a football ground in Roker, Sunderland, England, which was the home of Sunderland A.F.C. from 1898 to 1997, before the club moved to the Stadium of Light. Its final capacity was around 22,500, with only a small part being seated; ...

he was over-shadowed as a goal-scorer by Arthur Bridgett, but in 1907–08 he was the club's top-scorer with 24 league goals. On 5 December 1908, Holley scored a hat-trick in a 9–1 victory at

St James' Park St James' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Premier League club Newcastle United F.C. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England. St James' Park ...

over bitter local rivals

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, with the other goals coming from Billy Hogg (another hat-trick), Bridgett (two) and Jackie Mordue. Sunderland finished the 1908–09 season in third place, with Newcastle champions. In January 1908 Sunderland had signed Leigh Roose, who was brought in to replace

Ned Doig John Edward Doig (29 October 1866 – 7 November 1919) was a Scottish footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. He played the peak of his career for Sunderland, in a period of time in the club's history where they were dubbed the 'team of all tale ...

who had moved to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Holley and Roose soon became close friends. Holley won his first international cap against

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 ...

on 15 March 1909, playing on the right alongside his Sunderland teammate, Arthur Bridgett. His close friend, Leigh Roose, was in goal for Wales but could not stop Holley scoring after 15 minutes as England ran out 2–0 victors. Holley was also selected for the 1909 summer tour of Europe, playing in all three matches, scoring twice in both the 8–2 victory over

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and the 8–1 victory over

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Holley scored five goals in five internationals that season. Surprisingly, he was dropped from the team after failing to score in the first game (against Wales) the following season. Holley continued to score plenty of goals for Sunderland and ended up as the First Division joint top scorer in the 1911–12 season with 25 goals. During this season he scored four goals in a 5–0 defeat of

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

at Roker Park on 27 January 1912, as well as a hat-trick against Everton. He also won back his place in the England team and scored in all three games he played in the

1912 British Home Championship Year 191 ( CXCI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Apronianus and Bradua (or, less frequently, year 944 ''Ab urbe condit ...

. Sunderland won the Football League First Division championship in the 1912–13 season. Holley's 12 goals made an important contribution although top-scorer was

Charlie Buchan Charles Murray Buchan (22 September 1891 – 25 June 1960) was an English footballer, sporting journalist and commentator. Buchan started his career in 1909 with Woolwich Arsenal (later renamed Arsenal F.C.). He is known for his career with Su ...

with 27 goals. Buchan later argued that in a game against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

on 2 November 1912, Holley's performance was the best he ever saw by an inside-forward. "He scored a magnificent hat-trick, running nearly half the length of the field each time and coolly dribbling the ball round goalkeeper

Jock Ewart John Ewart (14 February 1891 – 22 June 1943) was a Scottish footballer who made over 280 appearances in the Football League for Bradford City as a goalkeeper. He also played in the Scottish League for Airdrieonians in two spells and won one c ...

before placing it in the net." Sunderland narrowly missed out on the Double, losing the

FA Cup final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

1–0 to

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 ...

. Holley was not fully fit for the cup final and went into the game with his ankle and knee bandaged. After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Holley left Sunderland to play for

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

in July 1919. He was Sunderland's top scorer in five separate seasons and during his time at the club he scored 154 goals in 315 appearances in all competitions. Altogether he scored nine hat-tricks for Sunderland and his scoring record for Sunderland is bettered only by

Bobby Gurney Bobby Gurney (13 October 1907 – 14 April 1994) was a football forward who is the highest goal scorer in the history of his only senior club as a player, Sunderland. Early years Born in Stewart Street, Silksworth, Sunderland, his father J ...

and

Dave Halliday David Halliday (11 December 1901 – 5 January 1970) was a Scottish association football player and manager. He achieved numerous distinctions and high rankings as a prolific goal-scoring forward with six senior clubs; St Mirren, Dundee, Sunder ...

Later career

He retired from playing in 1920 and returned to Sunderland in January 1921 for an 18-month spell as coach. He later had spells coaching at

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 ...

for ten years and then at

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. His son, Tom played as a central defender for Barnsley from 1932 to 1936, and then for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

from 1936 to 1948. He died in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

on 27 August 1942.

Honours

Sunderland * First Division: 1912–13 *

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 ...

runner-up: 1912–13 England *

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

: 1908–09, 1911–12 Individual * First Division Top Scorer: 1911–12

References

External links

*
England profileFull details of Sunderland career

Article on Sunderland AFC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holley, George 1885 births 1942 deaths Footballers from Seaham English footballers England men's international footballers Men's association football inside forwards Sunderland A.F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players English Football League players First Division/Premier League top scorers Southern Football League players English Football League representative players FA Cup final players