George Poland (21 September 1913 – 6 October 1988) was a Welsh 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 played as a goalkeeper. During his career, he made over 50 appearances in 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 ...

during spells with

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

and

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

and won two caps for

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 ...

in 1939. His career was interrupted by the outbreak of

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 ...

which began just after he was signed by First Division side

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 ...

meaning he never played for the side. During wartime, he also gained four international caps for Wales.

Career

Born in Penarth, Cardiff, Poland began his career playing 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 ...

with local amateur sides Cogan and Penarth Mission where his performances attracted the attention of

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 ...

side

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

who offered him a trial. Converted to playing as a winger by manager

Ted Vizard Edward Vizard (7 June 1889 – 25 December 1973) was a Welsh international footballer who became a manager. He spent almost all his playing career at Bolton Wanderers. Playing career Born in Cogan, Wales Vizard joined Bolton Wanderers in Sep ...

, he impressed enough to sign for the club but failed to break into the first-team and left the club at the end of the 1934–35 season without making an appearance. He instead began playing as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

and joined his hometown club

, who had previously rejected him as an outfield player prior to his move to Swindon. Despite having conceded seven goals in a reserve fixture several days before, he was handed his professional debut on 11 January 1936 in a 2–1 defeat to

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

after replacing

Jack Deighton James Deighton was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career Deighton began his professional career with Everton but was unable to displace Ted Sagar from the first team. He moved to Cardiff City in 1935 and compete ...

in the starting line-up, becoming the third goalkeeper used by the club as they struggled at the bottom of the Third Division South. Following his debut, he played in six consecutive matches but did not return to the first-team until midway through the following season when he replaced

Bill Fielding William Fielding (17 June 1915 – May 2006) was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Cardiff City, Bolton Wanderers and Manchester United in the 1930s and 1940s. Career Born in Broadhurst, Congleton, Cheshire, Fielding beg ...

as first choice goalkeeper. In 1938, he joined

Third Division North The Third Division North 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 South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

side

where he spent one season, breaking into the first-team following an injury to Pat McMahon, and impressed enough to earn a call-up to the

Wales national football team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth ...

, playing 2 matches. He played his first match on 15 March 1939 in a 3–1 victory over Ireland and his last match on 21 May 1939 in a 2–1 defeat to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. His form attracted the attention of

and he joined the club on 28 June 1939 for a fee of around £4,000. However, the

was suspended following the outbreak of

and he never played for the side. During the war years, he served in the

Welsh Guards The Welsh Guards (WG; cy, Gwarchodlu Cymreig), part of the Guards Division, is one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. It was founded in 1915 as a single-battalion regiment, during the First World War, by Royal Warrant of George V ...

and appeared as a guest player in wartime fixtures for

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

, Cardiff,

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

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

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 ...

and also earned four wartime international caps for Wales. When the Football League resumed at the end of the war, Poland rejoined Cardiff City and played in the opening two matches of the 1946–47 season, defeats to

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

and Swindon Town, but lost his place in the side to

Danny Canning Leslie Daniel Canning (21 February 1926 – 30 June 2014) was a Welsh professional footballer. A goalkeeper, he made over 100 appearances in The Football League during spells with Cardiff City, Swansea Town and Nottingham Forest and won promoti ...

. He later played for non-league side Lovell's Athletic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poland, George 1913 births Welsh men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Place of birth missing Men's association football goalkeepers Brentford F.C. wartime guest players Cardiff City F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Footballers from Cardiff Cardiff City F.C. wartime guest players Leeds United F.C. wartime guest players Fulham F.C. wartime guest players Crystal Palace F.C. wartime guest players 1988 deaths British Army personnel of World War II Welsh Guards soldiers