George Gaffikin (17 May 1868 – 31 December 1935) was an Irish

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 right In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

Club career

Gaffikin was a founder member of Linfield, playing in their first ever game, a friendly game against Lisburn Distillery on 11 September 1886., and went on to make 181 appearances in his twelve years with the club, scoring 103 goals. Gaffikin was part of the Linfield team which won the club's first trophy, the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

in March 1891, scoring in a 4-2 victory over

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

, with Linfield also going on to win a domestic

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

the same season, a feat they repeated for the following three seasons, and again in 1895, with Gaffikin scoring in the 10-1 Irish Cup win against Bohemians. Gaffikin also scored twice in the final of the

Belfast Charity Cup The Belfast Charity Cup was a football competition which ran from 1883 to 1941, and was based on a similar tournament in Scotland, the Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup. The competition was open to senior sides from Belfast and invited intermediate te ...

in May 1891, with Linfield defeating Ulster 7-1. They won this competition for the next four seasons.

International career

Gaffikin made his debut for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

during the 1890-91 British Home Championship in a 2-5 defeat to

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. He made a total of 15 international appearances, scoring against Wales the following season during the 1891-92 British Home Championship as Ireland recorded a 7-2 win, and then in three successive international games, against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and the following season against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and Scotland in the 1892-93 British Home Championship tournament. During the game against England, Ireland were awarded the first

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

in international football, after Gaffikin was tripped, although Sam Torrans' kick was saved.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaffikin, George Irish association footballers (before 1923) NIFL Premiership players Men's association football forwards Northern Ireland men's amateur international footballers Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Linfield F.C. players 1868 births 1935 deaths