George Campbell
Personal information
Full name George Campbell
Date of birth 1 December 1864
Place of birth Cardross, Scotland
Date of death 4 April 1898(1898-04-04) (aged 33)[1]
Place of death Kirkcaldy, Scotland
Position(s)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1888–1890 Renton 5 (0)
1890–1893 Aston Villa 51 (2)
1893–1895 Dundee 18 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

George Campbell (1 December 1864 – 4 April 1898) was a Scottish footballer who played in the Football League for Aston Villa.[2]

Career

Campbell began his senior career with local club Renton,[3] who had become established as one of Scotland's leading teams (at that time there were two other Campbells in the line-up, Johnny and Harry, but none of the three men were related). He came into the side at half back[4] after several key players moved on in the wake of Renton's Scottish Cup and unofficial 'World Championship' wins in 1888.[5][6] The replacements also performed strongly, winning a Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup[7] and being invited to join the Scottish Football League in its first season of 1890–91, only for the Dunbartonshire club and its players to be expelled from the then-amateur competition for matters relating to professionalism.[8] On a personal level, Campbell was invited to a trial for the Scotland national team in March 1890,[9] but did not go further in the selection process after some players absent from the trials became available again.

After Renton's expulsion, Campbell soon signed for English Football League club Aston Villa along with former teammate Jimmy Brown;[1] at the time of the 1891 census the pair were lodging together in Birmingham along with Jimmy Cowan who had come from the same district in Scotland.[10] While Cowan went on to great success with Villa, Campbell and Brown remained on the fringes of the team – neither played in the 1892 FA Cup Final, and both left the club and went their separate ways during 1893 (Brown joined Leicester Fosse).[1]

Campbell transferred back to Scotland with Dundee, playing in their first-ever season after a merger of two older clubs[11] (prompted by the eventual legalisation of professional contracts in the SFL, with larger clubs seen as more likely to prosper).[12][13] He was appointed Dundee captain[4] and remained there until the end of the 1894–95 season[14] at which point he had to retire from the game due to ill health, which later led to his death in 1898.[1][4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Player #73 | George Campbell, AVFC History
  2. ↑ Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. SoccerData. ISBN 1-899468-67-6.
  3. ↑ John Litster (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. 1 2 3 George Campbell. The Scottish Referee, 8 April 1898, scan via London Hearts Supporters Club
  5. ↑ Remember when a team from Scotland won the World Cup? The incredible story of Renton F.C, Glasgow Live, 12 November 2018
  6. ↑ Saturday's Football. | Renton V. West Bromwich Albion., The Glasgow Herald, 21 May 1888
  7. ↑ Glasgow Charity Cup–Queen's Park v. Renton. The Glasgow Herald, 29 May 1889, scan via London Hearts Supporters Club
  8. ↑ Renton and St Bernard expelled from Scottish Football, Arbroath Herald and Advertiser, 2 October 1890, via Play Up Liverpool
  9. ↑ International Trial Matches. The Scotsman, 3 March 1890,scan via London Hearts Supporters Club
  10. ↑ 1891 England Census, via Ancestry (subscription required)
  11. ↑ Birth of the Dark Blues, C'mon U Dees
  12. ↑ 125 years ago today, Dundee FC, 12 August 2018
  13. ↑ "George Campbell | Player Statistics | Dundee (Dee Archive)". deearchive.co.uk. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  14. ↑ George Campbell Player Profile, Dee Archive
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