George Cummings | |
Fullname: | George Wilfred Cummings |
Height: | 5 ft 11+1/2 in[1] |
Position: | Left back |
Birth Date: | 5 June 1913 |
Birth Place: | Falkirk, Scotland |
Death Place: | Birmingham, England |
Youthclubs1: | Thornbridge Waverley |
Youthclubs2: | Thornbridge Welfare |
Years1: | – |
Clubs1: | Grange Rovers |
Years2: | 1932–1935 |
Clubs2: | Partick Thistle |
Caps2: | 114 |
Goals2: | 1 |
Years3: | 1935–1949 |
Caps3: | 210 |
Goals3: | 0 |
Years4: | – |
Totalcaps: | 324 |
Totalgoals: | 1 |
Nationalyears1: | 1934–1935 |
Nationalteam1: | Scottish League XI |
Nationalcaps1: | 2 |
Nationalgoals1: | 0 |
Nationalyears2: | 1935–1939 |
Nationalteam2: | Scotland |
Nationalcaps2: | 9 |
Nationalgoals2: | 0 |
Nationalyears3: | 1944 |
Nationalteam3: | Scotland (wartime) |
Nationalcaps3: | 1 |
Nationalgoals3: | 0 |
George Wilfred Cummings (5 June 1913 – 9 April 1987) was a Scottish footballer of the 1930s and 1940s, who played as a left back.
Cummings was the captain of Aston Villa's great post-World War II defence,[2] having signed for the club in November 1935 from Partick Thistle,[3] where he had made a total of 138 appearances in all competitions, scoring one goal,[4] and won a Glasgow Cup medal with the Jags in 1934.[5]
At Villa Park, Cummings gained a Second Division championship medal in 1938 and a Football League War Cup tankard in 1944, also guesting for several teams (including hometown club Falkirk) during the conflict.[3] [6] He was the Villans club captain from 1945 to his retirement in 1949, and was popular with supporters due to his never-say-die spirit and no-nonsense defending. He played 421 times for the club in total, including wartime competitions – his peacetime total being just over half of that.[6]
On retirement as a player he was a youth coach at Aston Villa for three years, and also worked for the Dunlop Rubber Company and Hardy Spicer Ltd. in Birmingham.
Cummings represented both Scotland (nine caps, three while at Partick Thistle) and the Scottish League XI (two caps),[7] also playing in an SFA tour of North America in 1935 and in one wartime international in 1944.[8] [9]