386 George Murphy

Biography

Experienced centre forward George “Spud” Murphy joined the Tigers in December 1947 for a £1,500 fee as manager Major Frank Buckley sought to build on a strong first half of the 1947/48 season. Murphy’s impact was immediate as he scored seven goals in five starts between a Christmas Day win at Southport and a mid-January 5-3 win over contemporary arch rivals Rotherham United, placing the Tigers third in the Division Three North table. However City scored only once in the next five games and slipped out of the top six, while Murphy added three more goals in five starts during March 1948 his initial impact had started to wane – his case for first team action was hampered when he was sent off in a February 1948 match against Hartlepools United, an action that met with severe consequences at a time when clubs couldn’t call upon substitutes to fill gaps in their teams.

At the end of March 1948 City signed Raich Carter from Derby County, the ex-England international immediately usurped Murphy from the City first eleven. Within a few weeks Carter was installed as player-manager and Murphy was suspended by the Football Association for the remainder of the season after a string of misdemeanours that included his February banishment. By August 1948, just nine months after signing, Murphy refused the revised terms offered by City and was placed on the transfer list.

George Murphy was born in Wattsville, a row of mining cottages in the Sirhowy River valley between Cwmfelinfach and Newport in South Wales. After playing junior football for local side Cwmfelinfach Colts, Murphy had a trial with Tottenham Hotspur before beginning his professional career in October 1934 at Division Two side Bradford City. He made his debut for the Bantams against Bury in December 1934 and in his third start he opened his goalscoring account, netting a pre-Christmas brace against Nottingham Forest. He played a supporting role to the Bradford City first team for two seasons, appearing in a number of forward positions, then in the 1936/37 season he was used more regularly and scored eleven goals. Despite these goals Bradford City were unable to avoid relegation to Division Three North and Murphy continued to serve the first team in both the forward and half back lines until the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939, by which time he had scored 22 goals in 150 senior appearances.

His prime years as a professional footballer were denied to him by World War Two, during which he served the Royal Air Force as an electrician. He did play in many wartime fixtures, embracing the fashion of the time to turn out for multiple clubs in the wartime leagues when player registrations held by clubs were temporarily suspended – at one point George played for eight different clubs in a nine week period. He also represented his country in two non-capped 1943 and 1944 wartime internationals against England.

Bradford City retained Murphy’s suspended registration during the war and he returned to Valley Parade in the 1946/47 season, captaining the side and becoming top scorer with fifteen goals. This form continued into the opening months of the 1947/48 season, which encouraged Hull City to part with £1,500 for his services in December 1947. Murphy had scored 46 goals for Bradford City in 201 senior appearances.

Murphy left Hull City and joined Midland League side Scunthorpe & Lindsey United in August 1948, by the end of September 1948 he was the League’s top goalscorer with fifteen strikes. By the end of the 1948/49 season he had passed the thirty goal mark although injuries had limited his game time during for the second half of the season. In June 1949 he joined Midland League rivals Scarborough and in the 1949/50 season George struck 32 goals for the East Coast side, adding a further twenty goals the following season. In July 1951 Murphy was mulling over the options of signing again for Scarborough or accepting the offer of a player-manager role at Barton Town, a month later he took a third course and signed for Midland League side Goole Town. He drew a close to his playing career at the end of the 1951/52 season.

On retirement from playing football Murphy became a licensed victualler and was landlord at pubs in Hull and South Leeds. He settled in Tingley near Morley in later life, where he died in December 1983.

Details

Nationality: Wales
Date/Place of Birth: 22 July 1915, Wattsville
Hull City First Game: 20 December 1947, Lincoln City H (Division Three North), 32 years, 151 days old
Hull City Final Game: 26 March 1948, New Brighton A (Division Three North), 32 years, 248 days old

Clubs

Cwmfelinfach Colts, Bradford City (1934-1947), Hull City (1947-1948), Scunthorpe & Lindsey United (1948-1949), Scarborough (1949-1951), Goole Town (1951-1952)

Hull City Record

Career: 16 apps, 10 goals