.jpg) Robledo in the kit of the Chile national team (1950) | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | George Oliver Robledo[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1926-04-14)14 April 1926 | ||
| Place of birth | Iquique, Chile | ||
| Date of death | 1 April 1989(1989-04-01) (aged 62) | ||
| Place of death | Viña del Mar, Chile | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[2] | ||
| Position | Inside forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1946–1949 | Barnsley | 105 | (45) |
| 1949–1953 | Newcastle United | 146 | (82) |
| 1953–1958 | Colo-Colo | 153 | (84) |
| 1959–1960 | O'Higgins | 21 | (6) |
| Total | 425 | (217) | |
| International career | |||
| 1950–1957 | Chile | 31 | (8) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1955 | Colo-Colo | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
George Oliver Robledo[1] (14 April 1926 – 1 April 1989) was a Chilean professionalfootballer. Aninside forward, and is most notable for his time spent withNewcastle United. He was the first non-British-registered foreign player to becometop scorer in England.
Robledo was born inIquique, Chile to a Chilean father and an English mother. He emigrated with his family toBrampton, Yorkshire in 1932, at the age of five, due to the instability in Chile at the time.[3]
Robledo started his footballing career atHuddersfield Town, playing as apart-time amateur while he earned his money coal mining, though he never managed to break into the first team. He was able to give up the coal mining when he moved toSecond DivisionBarnsley duringWorld War II.First Division clubNewcastle United signed him on 27 January 1949, for a fee of £26,500. The fee included his brotherTed; this is because Newcastle were only interested in buying George but he refused to move without his brother.
Robledo's league debut for Newcastle came in the 2–0 victory away toCharlton Athletic on 5 February, while his first league goal came a month later in thederby match againstSunderland atSt James' Park. Newcastle came out of the match 2–1 winners, with Robledo's goal separating the sides, helping to quickly make him a fan favourite. The other Newcastle goal scorer wasJackie Milburn, marking the start of one of the great striking partnerships in Newcastle United's history. Robledo went on to score 5 more goals in the last 12 games of the season.
The following season, Robledo scored 11 goals for Newcastle, then netted 14 times in the1950–51 season and became the first South American to play in theFA Cup final, when Newcastle beat Blackpool 2–0 to lift the Cup. Robledo finished asDivision One's top scorer in the1951–52 season with 33 goals, 39 in all competitions (equallingHughie Gallacher's record). Robledo finished the season by scoring the goal which defeatedArsenal in theFA Cup final, helping Newcastle lift the cup in successive seasons. The goal scored by Robledo was drawn by a youngJohn Lennon, who included it in the artwork of his albumWalls and Bridges in 1974.[4]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Robledo goal in the 1952 cup final. Pathe Films. |
In the 1952–53 season, Robledo scored 18 times, taking his all time goals record for Newcastle to 91 and his league record to 82 (making him the highest scoring (non-Irish) overseas player in the English top flight, a record that was broken nearly half a century later byDwight Yorke[5][6]). At the end of the season, Ted Robledo was sold toColo-Colo and George soon followed him, with Colo-Colo paying Newcastle £25,000 for his services. Both brothers were highly popular in Chile, and George ended as top scorer in the Chilean league in 1953 and 1954, with 26 and 25 goals respectively.[7]
On 23 November 1956, Robledo assumed as the President of theSindicato Profesional de Jugadores de Fútbol (Professional Trade Union of Football Players) in Chile.[8]
Robledo left Colo-Colo in 1958, and spent a year out of football, before signing forClub Deportivo O'Higgins where he played out the final years of his career, until his retirement in 1960.
Chile recruited Robledo for the1950 FIFA World Cup, even though he spoke no Spanish. He made his debut in the opening group game againstEngland (one of his opponents reputedly warned him after he'd hit the post "Steady, George, you're not playing for Newcastle now, you know")[9] and scored in Chile's 5–2 victory over theUnited States. He was in the Chile squad for the1955 and1957 South American Championships, finishing as runners-up in the former tournament.
Robledo made thirty-one appearances for his national side, scoring eight goals over a period of seven years.
Robledo married in 1959, and later had a daughter. He finally retired from football in 1961 and took charge of the sports program in St Peter's school,Viña del Mar, where he remained leading a quiet life until his death of a heart attack on 1 April 1989, just before his 63rd birthday. He was survived by his wife Gladys and daughter Elizabeth.[10]
His brother Ted had died nearly 20 years earlier, having fallen from an oil tanker into the sea off the coast ofDubai in December 1970. His body has never been found.[11]
In May 2022, his daughter, Elizabeth, announced that she would auction some belongings of her father. The shirt with which George scored the goal againstArsenal in the1952 FA Cup final – the goal that was included in the artwork of theJohn Lennon albumWalls and Bridges[4] – was sold for £7,500.[12]
Newcastle United
Colo-Colo
Individual
In the records of Chilean football they are listed as 'Jorge' and 'Eduardo', leading to the assumption that their names were anglicised after their arrival in Yorkshire. Not so, Walter [Robledo] says. They were indeed baptised in Chile, but by a Presbyterian minister who recorded their names as George Oliver Robledo and Edward Oliver Robledo.
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