George Robb (1 June 1926 – 25 December 2011) was a footballer who played
outside left
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
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...
and
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 ...
. Robb represented
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
at the 1952
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...
. He also had a career as a
schoolteacher
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
. He died on
Christmas Day
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...
2011 following a long-term illness.
[Obituary - George Robb "THFC Official Website"](_blank)
, Accessed 26 December 2011
Career
George Robb joined
Finchley F.C.
Finchley Football Club was an English football club based in Finchley, Greater London. Established in 1877, the club merged with Wingate to form Wingate & Finchley in 1991.
History
The club was founded in 1877 by N. L. "Pa" Jackson under ...
straight from
Holloway Grammar School at the age of sixteen and played for the team first in 1943 and whilst still in the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
.
In the late 1940s, he was a teacher at St. Mary's C. of E. Primary School in Crouch End, Hornsey. Whilst still an amateur he started playing for
Spurs in 1951 but continued to hold his place in the
Finchley side.
During his time as an amateur he earned seventeen
England amateur caps and also played for
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
at the
1952 Summer Olympics
The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...
held in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
, Finland. He scored a goal in the one game the team played when they lost to
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
3–5.
Robb retained his amateur status until 1953 when despite earlier interest from Italian club
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
he was persuaded to sign as a professional for
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...
. During his time at Tottenham between 1951 and 1958 he played 200 games and scored 58 goals. Robb scored on his debut on Christmas Day 1951 in a 3-0 win over
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...
at
The Valley.
He made one appearance as a professional at international level for
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 ...
. This was on 25 November 1953 against
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
. This was
the landmark game in which England lost 3 – 6. Originally
Tom Finney
Sir Thomas Finney (5 April 1922 – 14 February 2014) was an English international footballer who played from 1946 to 1960 as a winger or centre forward for Preston North End and England. He is widely acknowledged to have been one of the s ...
was selected at left wing, but due to injury before the game, Robb played in his place.
Robb was forced by injury to retire from playing professionally following an injury sustained in a 5-a-side competition in 1958.
His main profession was as a teacher even whilst playing football, teaching at
Christ's College,
Finchley, at the time a State Grammar School, from 1952 until 1964 and then full-time at
Ardingly College near
Haywards Heath,
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...
until he retired in 1986.
Personal life
George Robb was born in
Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
on 1 June 1926. He married his wife Kathleen in 1960. He lived in
Ardingly
Ardingly ( ) is an English village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. The village is in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty about south of London and east-north-east of the county town of Chich ...
, near Haywards Heath for 47 years. George suffered from
vascular dementia
Vascular dementia (VaD) is dementia caused by problems in the supply of blood to the brain, typically a series of minor strokes, leading to worsening cognitive abilities, the decline occurring piecemeal. The term refers to a syndrome consisti ...
during the latter years of his life and died on 25 December 2011.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robb, George
1926 births
2011 deaths
People educated at Holloway School
Footballers from Finsbury Park
Deaths from vascular dementia
England international footballers
English footballers
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players
Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics
Olympic footballers of Great Britain
Wingate & Finchley F.C. players
Deaths from dementia in England
London XI players
English Football League players
English Football League representative players
Association football forwards
People from Ardingly
Royal Navy personnel of World War II