George William Webb (18 July 1888 – 28 March 1915) was an English

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

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 spent most of his career playing at

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

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

in the Southern League, as well as making seven appearances for the

England national amateur football team The England national amateur football team was the amateur representative team for England at football. It was formed in 1901, due to the growth of the professional game which meant that amateur players could no longer easily find places in the ...

and two for the full national side.

Football career

Webb was born in Poplar in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

and educated at Shaftesbury Road School. He was the stepson of George Hone, who was involved in the creation of Thames Ironworks and became a director of

. In August 1905, Webb had a pre-season trial with West Ham, going on to make occasional appearances for their reserve team, while playing for various amateur sides in the Ilford area. He made his debut for West Ham's first team on 9 April 1909, when he scored the only goal in a match against local rivals,

Leyton Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...

. On 5 February 1910, he 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 over

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

of the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

in the

Second round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds e ...

of 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 repeated this a year later, scoring all the goals in a 3–0 victory over First Division

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

. Webb was described as "fast, had a great shot while a hefty physique made him even more redoubtable". Webb represented the Southern League in representative matches and netted 7 goals in five appearances for the

, including the only goal of a 1–0 win over the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 17 April 1911. His first appearances for the full national side came in the

Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

match against

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 ...

on 13 March 1911. In the match, played at

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

The Den The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in New Cross, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter of a mile from the Old Den, which it ...

ground, Webb scored the second goal in a 3–0 victory, with England's other two goals coming from fellow-amateur,

Vivian Woodward Vivian John Woodward (3 June 1879 – 31 January 1954) was an English footballer who enjoyed the peak of his career from the turn of the 20th century to the outbreak of the First World War. He played for Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. He capt ...

. He retained his place for the next match, against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

at Everton's

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...

stadium. The match finished 1–1, but the draw was sufficient for England to claim the championship trophy. Webb's performance against Scotland was described as "a failure, largely due to the work of Low", who marked him out of the game. During his time with West Ham, Webb remained an amateur and his appearances were restricted by his business commitments. His fellow West Ham forward Danny Shea said that Webb "led too crowded a life". Illness in December 1911 ruled him out for most of the remainder of that season, with Fred Harrison taking over from him. In the summer of 1912, he moved to

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

of the Football League First Division, but after two games, both 1–0 away wins, against

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, he fell out with the club when he discovered that a transfer fee had been paid to West Ham United, which went against his principles as an amateur. Part of the transfer deal also included the playing of a friendly game between West Ham and Manchester City at Upton Park in November 1912, the first-ever meeting between the two sides, which Manchester City won 4–2.

Life outside football

Webb worked in the family toy manufacturing business and was a

freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. He died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

in 1915.

International goals

:''England score listed first, score column indicates score after each Webb goal.''

International goals

:''England Amateurs score listed first, score column indicates score after each Webb goal.''

Honours

England *

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

References

External links

*
Profile at www.englandfc.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, George 1888 births Footballers from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets People from Poplar, London 1915 deaths English men's footballers England men's amateur international footballers England men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Ilford F.C. players Wanstead F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in England English Freemasons