Geoffrey "Geoff" Shelton (birth registered third ¼ 1940 – August 2012) was an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s. He played at representative level for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, and at club level for

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

and

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

, as a .

Background

Geoff Shelton's birth was registered in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

district,

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

, England, he was

landlord A landlord is the owner of property such as a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate that is rented or leased to an individual or business, known as a tenant (also called a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). The term landlord appli ...

of the Coach and Horses

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

lic house at 459 Huddersfield Road, Waterhead,

, OL4 2HT, he died aged 72, and his funeral was held at Harrogate Crematorium, Wetherby Road,

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

at 1pm on Friday August 2012.

Playing career

International honours

Geoff Shelton won

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

s for

while at Hunslet in 1964 against France (2 matches), in 1965 against New Zealand (3 matches), and on the 1966 Great Britain Lions tour against Australia (2 matches).

County honours

Geoff Shelton won

(s) for

while at Hunslet.

Challenge Cup Final appearances

Geoff Shelton played at , and scored a try in

's 16-20 defeat by

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

in the 1965 Challenge Cup Final during the 1964–65 season at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on Saturday 8 May 1965, in front of a crowd of 89,016.

County Cup Final appearances

Geoff Shelton played at , and scored a try in

's 12-2 victory over

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

in the 1962 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1968–69 season at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

on Saturday 27 October 1962, and played at in the 8-17 defeat by

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

in the 1965 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1965–66 season at

on Saturday 16 October 1965.

Club career

Geoff Shelton was transferred from

in 1966 for a transfer fee of £6,250 (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £244,600 in 2013), in February 1968 he was transferred from Oldham to

for £2,500 (also stated as £3,000), before retiring due to injury.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
The funeral of former…
*(archived by web.archive.org

Statistics at thisiswarrington.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shelton, Geoffrey 1940 births 2012 deaths English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players Hunslet F.C. (1883) players Oldham R.L.F.C. players Place of death missing Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Leeds Warrington Wolves players Yorkshire rugby league team players 20th-century English sportsmen