Thomas George Lewis (20 October 1913 – 6 August 1981) was a Welsh

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 ...

who played as a

centre-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 ...

for

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

in the late 1930s, before joining

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

for a brief period 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 opposin ...

Football career

Watford

Lewis was born in

Troed-y-rhiw Troed-y-rhiw (, translation: foot of the slope) is a large community village in the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Its population at the 2011 census was 5,296. It features the Troed-y-rhiw railway station. Governance The community sh ...

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

and after playing youth football with his village side and then in the nearby town of

New Tredegar New Tredegar ( cy, Tredegar Newydd) is a former mining town and community in the Rhymney Valley, Caerphilly county borough, Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. New Tredegar is now home to 'The Winding House', a county museum ...

followed his elder brother

Jim Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim ...

to join

. He initially joined Watford as an amateur at 17, before signing his first professional contract in May 1934. Lewis stayed at

Vicarage Road Vicarage Road is a stadium in Watford, England, and is the home stadium of championship club Watford. An all-seater stadium, its current capacity is 22,200. History It has been the home of Watford since 1922, when the club moved from Cassi ...

until the war, making irregular appearances in the

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

, firstly, like his brother, at

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

before moving to centre forward in 1937–38. His most successful league season was 1938–39 when he scored nine goals from 13 appearances. During the war he was an Army P.T. instructor, although he made guest appearances for Chester City. He spent one more season with Watford after the end of the war, in which there was no League football. Lewis played in eight

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 ...

matches as Watford reached round four before being eliminated by

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 ...

. Lewis scored three goals during the cup run, including the equaliser against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in round three.

Southampton

In July 1946, he joined

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 ...

for a "four figure fee". Described as a "well-built centre-forward" with a "never-say-die" attitude, Lewis enjoyed a fine first season at The Dell, despite problems at the start of the season with a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupeds, ...

injury. He made his debut on 3 October 1946, taking over from the injured Doug McGibbon, in a 2–4 defeat at

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

. After a run of five games, in which he only found the net once, he was replaced by the fit again McGibbon. He regained the number 9 shirt in December when McGibbon was sold to

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

and went on to score 11 goals in the remaining 23 games. In the

third round match against

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

on 11 January 1947, Lewis scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 5–1 victory. This was the "Saints" first FA Cup hat-trick for 50 years, and the first-ever in the competition proper. In total he scored 15 goals, making him joint top-scorer with Jack Bradley. Lewis was unable to reproduce this form in the 1947–48 season, failing to score in any of his 15 appearances. The arrival of

Charlie Wayman Charles Wayman (16 May 1921 – 26 February 2006) was an English footballer. Wayman, who was born in Chilton, Bishop Auckland, was a prolific centre-forward in the first decade after the Second World War. Newcastle United signed him from Sp ...

in November brought Lewis's Saints career to an end. In his two years at Southampton, he scored 15 goals from 45 appearances.

Later career

Lewis spent the 1947–48 season back in the Third Division South with

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 ...

before joining

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

, where he remained until 1952, when he took up a position as groundsman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, George 1913 births 1981 deaths People from Troed-y-rhiw Sportspeople from Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Welsh footballers Association football forwards English Football League players Watford F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Dartford F.C. players Chester City F.C. wartime guest players British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Physical Training Corps soldiers Welsh military personnel