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George Cummings (footballer)

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George Cummings
Personal information
Full name George Wilfred Cummings
Date of birth 5 June 1913
Place of birth Falkirk, Scotland
Date of death 9 April 1987(1987-04-09) (aged 73)
Place of death Birmingham, England
Height 5 ft 11+12 in (1.82 m)[1]
Position(s) Left back
Youth career
Thornbridge Waverley[2]
Thornbridge Welfare[2]
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Grange Rovers
1932–1935 Partick Thistle 114 (1)
1935–1949 Aston Villa 210 (0)
Total 324 (1)
International career
1934–1935 Scottish League XI 2 (0)
1935–1939 Scotland 9 (0)
1944 Scotland (wartime) 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

George Wilfred Cummings (5 June 1913 – 9 April 1987) was a Scottish footballer of the 1930s and 1940s, who played as a left back.[3]

Club career

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Cummings was the captain of Aston Villa's great post-World War II defence,[4] having signed for the club in November 1935 from Partick Thistle,[5] where he had made a total of 138 appearances in all competitions, scoring one goal,[6] and won a Glasgow Cup medal with the Jags in 1934.[7]

At Villa Park, Cummings gained a Second Division championship medal in 1938 and a Football League War Cup tankard in 1944, also guesting for several teams (including hometown club Falkirk) during the conflict.[5][2] He was the Villans' club captain from 1945 to his retirement in 1949, and was popular with supporters due to his never-say-die spirit and no-nonsense defending. He played 421 times for the club in total, including wartime competitions – his peacetime total being just over half of that.[2]

On retirement as a player he was a youth coach at Aston Villa for three years, and also worked for the Dunlop Rubber Company and Hardy Spicer Ltd. in Birmingham.

International career

[edit]

Cummings represented both Scotland (nine caps, three while at Partick Thistle)[8] and the Scottish League XI (two caps),[9] also playing in an SFA tour of North America in 1935 and in one wartime international in 1944.[10][11]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Villa have talent to succeed". Sunday Dispatch Football Guide. London. 23 August 1936. p. vi – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c d George Cummings, Aston Villa Player Database
  3. ^ "George Cummings". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  4. ^ George Cummings, The Real History of Aston Villa Football Club
  5. ^ a b John Litster (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ Players C, Partick Thistle History Archive
  7. ^ Partick Thistle Win The Glasgow Cup, The Glasgow Herald, 15 October 1934, via Partick Thistle History Archive
  8. ^ George Cummings at the Scottish Football Association
  9. ^ "[SFL player] George Cummings". London Hearts Supporters' Club. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  10. ^ "[Scotland player – including unofficial matches] George Cummings". London Hearts Supporters' Club. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  11. ^ Mitchell, Andy (2021). The men who made Scotland: The definitive Who's Who of Scottish Football Internationalists 1872-1939. Amazon. ISBN 9798513846642.
[edit]
  • George Cummings at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database