Richard Stuart George (born 28 June 1946) is an English former

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 ...

, businessman and columnist. He is notable for scoring the winning goal for

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

in their giant killing 1971–72 FA Cup match against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. He was also part owner of

Earth Summit The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to June 14, 1992. Earth Su ...

, which won the 1998

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

Football career

George signed for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

as an apprentice on leaving school at the age of 15. However he did not make a first team appearance for the Double winning side and moved to

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, a ...

, then in the Third Division, in January 1964. After almost a year he was on the move again, to Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic. He later played for

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

before dropping down into the Southern League with Hastings United,

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

and

. George had been a supporter of his hometown club Barnet since a young age, and joined them for the first time in the late 1960s, emulating his elder brother Mike who had played for them previously. He enjoyed three years at Barnet, in what he has stated was the best team he ever played in. Memorably he scored a hat-trick in the FA Cup against Newport County, a team which contained future teammate

Ronnie Radford Ronald Radford (12 July 1943 – 2 November 2022) was an English footballer who was known for scoring "one of the most iconic goals in FA Cup history", in the 1971–72 FA Cup for Hereford United during their shock 2–1 giant-killing of Newc ...

The FA Cup

In January 1971, George was sold to Hereford United where he joined his former Hastings and Barnet teammate

Billy Meadows Billy may refer to: * Billy (name), a name (and list of people with the name) Animals * Billy (dog), a dog breed * Billy (pigeon), awarded the Dickin Medal in 1945 * Billy (pygmy hippo), a pet of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge * Billy, a young ...

. He took a while to find his feet at

Edgar Street Edgar Street is a football stadium in Hereford and was the home of Hereford United Football Club from the club's formation in 1924 until December 2014, when the club was wound up. It is now the home of Hereford FC, a phoenix club formed to rep ...

under manager

John Charles William John Charles (27 December 1931 – 21 February 2004) was a Welsh footballer who played as a centre-forward or as a centre-back. Best known for his first stint at Leeds United and Juventus, he was rated by many as the greatest all-round ...

but would soon become involved in arguably the greatest FA Cup shock of all time. Hereford met Newcastle United, of the First Division, in the Third Round at

St James' Park St James' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Premier League club Newcastle United F.C. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England. St James' Park ...

and came away with a remarkable 2–2 draw. George was the substitute that day, played for the last 20 minutes and provided a cross that Meadows came within inches of converting. The replay at Edgar Street saw George named as the substitute again. When

Malcolm Macdonald Malcolm Ian Macdonald (born 7 January 1950) is an English former professional footballer, manager and media figure. Nicknamed 'Supermac', Macdonald was a quick, powerfully built prolific goalscorer. He played for Fulham, Luton Town, Newcastle U ...

put Newcastle 1–0 up late in the game, George was brought on for the injured

Roger Griffiths Roger Griffiths (born 6 February 1965) is an English actor who has had several roles in television. He first rose to prominence opposite Lenny Henry as Gareth Blackstock's foil Everton Stonehead in BBC One 1990s sitcom ''Chef!''. Before starri ...

and played a key part in Hereford's triumph. He won possession on the left wing which ultimately led to Ronnie Radford's famous equalising goal. The game went into extra time and George's fresh legs paid dividends. Controlling a pass from

Dudley Tyler Dudley Tyler (born 21 September 1944) is an English former footballer, born in Salisbury, who played as a winger in the Football League for West Ham United and Hereford United. Career John Charles signed Tyler for Hereford United in 1969 from ...

on the edge of the area, he turned and shot into the bottom left hand corner of the goal, sparking a pitch invasion. Along with Ronnie Radford, George has become part of FA Cup folklore and his achievement is frequently referred to, particularly in the build-up to the FA Cup third round. George started the Fourth Round match against

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 ...

, which went to a replay at Upton Park after a 0–0 draw at Hereford. However he missed an open goal which would have put Hereford 1–0 up and the final score ended in a 3–1 defeat. Hereford were elected to the Football League at the end of the season but George went back to Barnet. He wound down his career in non-league football with Cambridge City,

Boreham Wood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...

and Corinthian-Casuals, and started a sportswear business in 1976.

After football

In 1992, George, along with five other people, bought a share in a horse called ''Earth Summit''. On 4 April 1998 the horse won the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

at odds of 7–1. George maintains extremely close ties to the racing industry. George wrote a weekly non-league column for the

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

and co-presented 'Matchday with Motty' for

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

Radio Five Live with the legendary football commentator

John Motson John Walker Motson (10 July 1945 – 23 February 2023) was an English football commentator. Beginning as a television commentator with the BBC in 1971, he commentated on over 2000 games on television and radio. From the late 1970s to 2008, Mot ...

. He has known Motson since the 1960s and even travelled down to Hereford with him for the Newcastle match. Ricky has summarised frequently for

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

and has appeared as a pundit on several occasions, especially for matches concerning Hereford United. In 2001 his autobiography ''One Goal, One Horse'' was published, which covers his two most notable moments as well as his colourful footballing career. In August 2018, George was imprisoned for two years for

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

References

External links

The Daily TelegraphJournalisted – Articles by Ricky George
{{DEFAULTSORT:George, Ricky 1946 births Living people Footballers from Chipping Barnet English men's footballers Men's association football wingers Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Watford F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Oxford United F.C. players Hastings United F.C. (1948) players Barnet F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Cambridge City F.C. players Boreham Wood F.C. players Corinthian-Casuals F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players British racehorse owners and breeders British male journalists English criminals English money launderers The Daily Telegraph people