George William Walker (30 May 1934 – 8 August 2012) 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 lea ...

who played as an

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

. He scored 58 goals from 179 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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

and

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

before injury ended his career.

Life and career

Walker was born in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

. While doing his

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

, he played

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

for

Chippenham Town Chippenham Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England. They are currently members of and play their games at Hardenhuish Park. History The club states it was established in 1873,

before signing for

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 ...

club

in May 1956. He scored twice in 17 senior appearances, of which 15 were in the league, before returning to the north of England to join

of the Fourth Division on 2 March 1959 for a £1500 fee. He made his debut the following day, and scored twice as Carlisle beat

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

3–0. He continued as a regular in the first team, scoring 58 goals from 177 appearances in all competitions (53 from 164 in the league). Walker was the club's top scorer in both 1960–61 and 1961–62, when the team went into the last two matches of the season in sixth place, two points outside the promotion positions. He scored both goals in a 2–1 win at

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

and the first in a 2–0 win at home to

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

that gave Carlisle the four points they needed to overtake

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

and

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

and make sure of their first ever promotion. His Carlisle career was ended when he broke his leg playing in a reserve match, although he was able to go back into non-league football with

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

. Walker settled in the

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

area, where he and former teammate

Ginger Thompson Ginger Thompson is an American journalist and a senior reporter at ProPublica. A 2001 Pulitzer Prize Winner in National Reporting and finalist for the National Magazine Award, she spent 15 years at ''The New York Times'', including time as a Wash ...

went into the building trade. They also founded a football club, Carlisle City, in 1975 "to give local lads somewhere to play". Walker was married to Val; the couple had three sons. He died of

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

in Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, in 2012 at the age of 78.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, George 1934 births 2012 deaths Footballers from Sunderland English men's footballers Men's association football inside forwards Chippenham Town F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players English Football League players Deaths from leukemia in England 20th-century English sportsmen