George Herbert Stabb (26 September 1912 – 11 December 1994) 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 ...

who played for

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 ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, and Bradford Park Avenue in the 1930s.

Career

Stabb played for Dartmouth United and Paignton Town, before joining

in September 1931. He scored three goals in 12

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 ...

games in 1931–32. He claimed his first goal in the Football League on 7 September in a 10–2 defeat to Fulham at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against ...

. He went on to score 26 goals in 45 appearances in the 1932–33 season to finish as the club's top-scorer. He scored a hat-trick in an 8–1 win over

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

Plainmoor Plainmoor is an association football stadium located in the Plainmoor suburb of Torquay, Devon, England. Since 1921, the stadium has been the home of Torquay United Football Club, who currently compete in the National League, the fifth tier of E ...

on 10 September, and bagged another hat-trick in a 3–2 victory over

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, and ...

on 18 March. He then went on to score 15 goals in 1933–34 as he finished as the "Gulls" top-scorer for a second successive season. He then moved on to

. He spent the 1933–34 season at

Meadow Lane Meadow Lane Stadium is a football stadium in Nottingham, England. It is the home ground of Notts County, who have played there since it opened in 1910. The stadium was also home to Notts County Ladies F.C. from 2014 until 2017. It currently h ...

, and scored five goals in 24

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 ...

games. He signed with

in July 1935. He enjoyed a great start to his career with the "Valiants", scoring one goal in each of the first four Second Division games of the 1935–36 season. However, he damaged a cartilage during a 5–1 defeat to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

Turf Moor Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C. since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in English professional footba ...

on 9 September. This injury required surgery, though he regained his place in the team after recovering in November. In the

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 ...

, he scored against First Division champions Sunderland 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 ...

and

The Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad condit ...

, as Vale drew 2–2 before recording a shock 2–0 victory. However Vale slipped to relegation into the

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 ...

. Stabb played twice at the start of the 1936–37 season, before transferring to Bradford Park Avenue, back in the Second Division, in September 1936.

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stabb, George 1912 births 1994 deaths People from Paignton English footballers Association football wing halves Association football forwards Dartmouth A.F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. wartime guest players English Football League players