George Samuel Eccles (1874 – 18 December 1945) was an English

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 at

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

and Southern League for

Burslem Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, Everton,

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

and

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

. He helped Bolton Wanderers to win

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

out of the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 1904–05.

Career

Eccles played for Middleport before joining

in June 1893. He played six

games in the 1893–94 season. He featured once in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

and made 27 league appearances in the 1894–95 season, claiming one goal in a 4–4 draw with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

at the Athletic Ground on 6 October. On 26 February, when heading for a match against

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test cricket, Test, One-day cricket, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nott ...

, he misread the train timetables. He selected a non-existent

train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

that only ran on market days, thereby missing the game. He played 17 league and two FA Cup games in the 1895–96 season, and broke his

collarbone The clavicle, collarbone, or keybone is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on each side of the body. The clavicle is the ...

in February 1896. He was sold to

for a 'considerable' fee in May 1896. "Wolves" finished tenth and third in the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

in 1896–97 and 1897–98. Eccles scored one goal in 36 league games during his two years at Molineux and then moved on to league rivals Everton. The "Toffees" finished fourth, eleventh, and seventh in 1898–99, 1899–1900, and 1900–01. He played 56 league games during his three seasons at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

before switching to

. He did not feature in the Second Division for the "Lambs" in 1901–02, and instead transferred to

. The "Hammers" finished tenth and twelfth in the Southern League in 1902–03 and 1903–04, with Eccles playing 59 league games at the

Memorial Grounds Memorial Grounds was an outdoor stadium in West Ham that served as the home of Thames Ironworks F.C. from the beginning of the 1897–98 Thames Ironworks F.C. season, 1897–98 season, until the end of the 1899–1900 Thames Ironworks F.C. seaso ...

. He then made a brief return to the

, playing six league games to help

win

out of the Second Division in

1904–05 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 * '' D ...

Career statistics

Honours

Bolton Wanderers *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

second-place promotion:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eccles, George 1874 births 1945 deaths Footballers from Newcastle-under-Lyme English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Port Vale F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Everton F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff English Football League representative players 19th-century English sportsmen