George McGuinness (6 October 1887 – 1 July 1916) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Spanish club

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

. He is most known for his goals at the

1909 Copa del Rey The 1909 Copa del Rey was the 7th staging of the Copa del Rey, the Spanish football cup competition. The competition started on 4 April 1909, and concluded on 8 April 1909, with the final, held at the O'Donnell, in Madrid, in which Club Ciclista d ...

to help Club Ciclista win the title for the first time, netting a then national record of six in a single tournament including 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 ...

against Athletic Club and the opening goal of the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Playing career

George McGuinness was born on 6 October 1887 in

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 ...

as the second of three sons born to Edward, a private school teacher, and Catherine, and attended St Francis Xavier's College. In 1908, at the age of 21, McGuinness arrived in

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

, where he taught English to Pedro Bea, the goalkeeper of the newly founded

Club Ciclista Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...

. Knowing that the young Englishman was a passionate footballer, Bea encouraged him to join the team. The newly founded Club Ciclista was far from the favorite to win the

, but they exceeded all expectations by winning the tournament, largely thanks to McGuinness, who scored a

in a 4–2 upset of the powerful Athletic Club in the quarter-finals, followed by both of his side's goals in a 2–0 win over Galicia FC. However, he was

injured Major trauma is any injury that has the potential to cause prolonged disability or death. There are many causes of major trauma, blunt and penetrating, including falls, motor vehicle collisions, stabbing wounds, and gunshot wounds. Depending ...

during that game, and even though Club Ciclista managed to hold on to the win with just nine men, the concern was whether their star would be able to play the

two days later at

Campo de O'Donnell Campo de O'Donnell was a multi-use stadium in Madrid, Spain. The stadium should not be confused with Campo de O'Donnell (Atlético Madrid), which shared the same name and was situated away on the same boulevard. It was initially a field (campo) ...

. Mcguinness's participation in the final was doubtful, but at the last moment he decided to play, and with him on the field, Club Ciclista beat

Español de Madrid Español may refer to: *from or pertaining to Spain *Spanish language *Spanish people *Djudeo-Espanyol or Judaeo-Spanish, a language spoken by Jews *Argant, an ancient variety of red wine grape alternatively named Espagnol *RCD Espanyol *Club Soci ...

3–1 featuring yet another goal from McGuinness, who opened the scoring from the

penalty spot The penalty area or 18-yard box (also known less formally as the penalty box or simply box) is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends 16.5m (18 yd) to each side of the goal and 16.5m (18 yd) in front of it. Wit ...

(compatriot

Charles Simmons Charles Simmons may refer to: *Charles Simmons (gymnast) (1885–1945), British gymnast who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics *Charles Simmons (author) (1924–2017), American editor and novelist *Charles Simmons (author, born 1798), American cl ...

and

Miguel Sena Miguel José Sena Manterola (6 November 1884 - 16 March 1969) was a Spanish association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward for Real Sociedad. His brothers, Alfonso Sena, Alfonso and Gregorio Sena, Gregorio ...

netted the other two goals). It was the first Copa title won by a team other than Athletic and Madrid, while individually he also broke the record for the most goals in a single edition with six. A few months after this victory, the players who won the tournament founded the Sociedad de Futbol (now known as

) on 7 September 1909 and participated in the

1910 Copa del Rey The Copa del Rey 1910 comprised two different competitions held the same year. Due to disagreements between the reigning champion of the tournament, Club Ciclista de San Sebastián, and some of the clubs invited, in 1910 two parallel competitions w ...

under the umbrella of local club Vasconia Sporting Club (since the club was not a year old as the tournament statutes required); once again McGuinness proved to be the matchwinner with both goals in a 2–0 over Madrid FC, although they lost the

to Athletic 0–1, courtesy of a goal from Remigio Iza. In the same year,

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also known as El Africano or the African, was King of Spain from 17 May 1886 to 14 April 1931, when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed. He was a monarch from birth as his father, Alfo ...

gave the club his patronage whereby it subsequently became known as Real Sociedad de Fútbol, and McGuinness went down in history again for netting the club's first goal as ''Real Sociedad'', on 26 March 1910, in a 1–5 friendly loss to London Nodmans. At this point one of the other players in the side was Nicasio Goitisolo, an Anglo-Basque who was also from Liverpool and an 'Old Xaverian', although the nature of the relationship between the two young men has not been confirmed. Also in 1910, Sociedad participated in the inaugural edition of the

Pyrenees Cup The Pyrenees Cup (), officially Challenge International du Sud de la France, was an international football competition contested by Spanish and French clubs based in the territories of Pyrénées (Catalonia, the Basque Country, Languedoc, Midi-Py ...

, and McGuinness netted once in the opening match of the competition, a semi-final clash against

Stade toulousain Stade Toulousain () ( oc, Estadi Tolosenc), also referred to as Toulouse, is a professional rugby union club based in Toulouse, France. They compete in the Top 14, France's top division of rugby, and the European Rugby Champions Cup. Toulou ...

at Ondarreta Stadium on 17 April, thus helping his side to an 8–0 victory, Two weeks later, on 1 May, he featured in the final against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

, and although he assisted

Manuel Prast Manuel Prast Rodríguez de Llano was a footballer who played as a striker for Madrid FC between 1904–1908 and 1912–1914. He was a historical member of Madrid FC, playing a pivotal role in Madrid's four back-to-back Copa del Rey titles betwee ...

for the opening goal, they ultimately lost 1–2. In total, he played 9 competitive matches for Real Sociedad, scoring 7 goals, six in the Copa del Rey and one in the Pyrenees Cup. On 2 December 1910, he played his last game for the Basque club, going off with a five-goal haul against Biarritz Stade. He left the San Sebastián entity at 23 to return to England, where he was a teacher at St Laurence's Roman Catholic School in

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

– a town in the county of

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

near Liverpool. During his years as a teacher, he would continue to practice football with the now defunct Harrowby FC team.

World War I

The outbreak of 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 ...

led 27-year-old McGuinness to the ranks and he was assigned to the 30th Division of the King's Regiment of Liverpool infantry, in its 18th Battalion. Fourteen months later, on 7 November 1915, McGuinness (service number 16665) and his battalion crossed the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

to France aboard the . On 1 July 1916, he was present at the start of the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

, one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Great War. Two weeks later, Edward and Catherine McGuinness received a letter at their home: John Caulfield, George's battalion mate, reported his death in combat by a bullet.

Honours

Club Ciclista *

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Januar ...

Real Sociedad *Copa del Rey: Runner-up

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGuinness, George 1887 births 1916 deaths English footballers Association football forwards Footballers from Liverpool Real Sociedad footballers British military personnel killed in the Battle of the Somme English expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain English expatriate footballers King's Regiment (Liverpool) soldiers British Army personnel of World War I