George Herbert Marsden (born 16 October 1880 – 7 July 1948) was an English dual-code international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and 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 1890s and 1900s. He played representative rugby union (RU) for

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

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 Morley R.F.C., as a

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

, and representative level rugby league (RL) for

and

, and at club level for Bradford F.C. (now Bradford Park Avenue A.F.C.) (

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

), as a .

Background

George Marsden was born in Morley,

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 died on 7 July 1948 in

Lytham St Annes Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the The Fylde, Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population of the built-up area at the 2021 United Kingdom census, ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England.

Playing career

International honours

George Marsden 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

(RU) while at Morley R.F.C. in the

1900 Home Nations Championship The 1900 Home Nations Championship was the eighteenth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 6 January and 17 March. It was contested by England national rugby union team, En ...

against Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, and won a

for

(RL) while at Bradford F.C. in 1905 against Other Nationalities.

County honours

George Marsden won 11-caps for

(RU) while at Morley R.F.C. up to and including 1900, and won

(s) for

(RL) while at

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

between 1900 and 1906.Maule, Raymond (1992). ''The Complete Who's Who of England Rugby Union Internationals'' (page 104). Breedon Books, Derby. When Bradford converted from the

code to the

code on 29 August 1895, George Marsden would have been 14 years of age. Consequently, he was too young to have been a rugby union footballer for Bradford FC, and he won his England (RU) caps during 1900 at Morley R.F.C., changing club and code to Bradford and rugby league in 1900.

Championship final appearances

George Marsden played and was

in Bradford FC's 5–0 victory over

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

tiebreaker In games and sport, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is any method used to determine a winner or to rank participants when there is a tie - meaning two or more parties have achieved a same score or result. A tiebreaker provides the additional criterion ...

during the 1903–04 season at

Thrum Hall Thrum Hall was a rugby league stadium on Hanson Lane in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Halifax R.L.F.C., Halifax for 112 years. The site on which the ground stood is now occupied by a supermarket. History In 1878, Halifa ...

, Hanson Lane, Halifax on Thursday 28 April 1904, in front of a crowd of 12,000.Irvin Saxton (publish date tbc) "History of Rugby League – № 9 – 1903–04". Rugby Leaguer ISBN n/a

Challenge Cup Final appearances

George Marsden played and was

's 5–0 victory over

in the

1906 Challenge Cup Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

Final during the 1905–06 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 ...

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 ...

, on Saturday 28 April 1906, in front of a crowd of 15,834.

Rugby union administration

Despite his previous involvement in rugby league, and the animosity between rugby union and rugby league, George Marsden was one of the founding members of the rugby union club

Fylde Rugby Club Fylde Rugby Union Club is a rugby union club based in Lytham St Annes, on the Fylde coast in Lancashire, England. The home venue is the Woodlands Memorial Ground on Blackpool Road in Ansdell and the first team play in English rugby's Natio ...

in 1919.

References

External links

Image
Image {{DEFAULTSORT:Marsden, George 1880 births
1948 deaths
Bradford F.C. captains Bradford F.C. players Dual-code rugby internationals England international rugby union players England national rugby league team players English rugby league players English rugby union players Morley R.F.C. players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby union fly-halves Sportspeople from Morley, West Yorkshire Rugby union players from West Yorkshire Rugby league players from West Yorkshire Yorkshire County RFU players Yorkshire rugby league team players