ROBLEDO BROTHERS

"Around Town", the "Lifestyle Magazine" for Barnsley and Rotherham, has a Sports' section and this recent edition, May/June 2022, features George Robledo, the well known Chilean footballer from the post Second World War period. There was also a brother who played football, Ted, who was two years younger. He also played for Barnsley FC and had a decent career in the game. The brothers played simultaneously for Barnsley FC, Newcastle United and then for Colo-Colo FC "back home" and also the Chilean national team.

George might be considered one of the best foreign players to have had an impact on the English game. George was the first foreigner to win the Golden Boot, for being the top scorer in the First Division (top division at the time).

Jorge (George) Robledo Oliver was born 1926, to a Chilean father and English mother, who emigrated to Wath on Dearne, in 1932, when he was five years old. She took the boys and left her "husband"  in Chile.

Having settled in to his new "country", George scored in the The Totty Cup 1939 (a local schools' cup), in the Montagu Cup (a cup for local South Yorkshire clubs) 1944. Soon it was The World Cup 1950 in Brazil and the FA Cup Final 1951 and 1952. 

Young George worked in the mines when he was old enough and played part time for Huddersfield Town and then Barnsley after the war. Newcastle signed him in 1949 for £26,500, no mean fee at that time. When ever George moved, he had to include his brother Ted (born 1928) in the deal. 

Ted never quite made it. George stayed at Newcastle from 1949-53 (146 apps-82).
Here's Ted who turned out 31 times for Newcastle.

Robledo had become the first non-British registered player to top score in the Football League and the first South American to play in an FA Cup final, on April 28th 1951 v Blackpool which Newcastle won 2-0. Jackie Milburn scored both goals. Both Ted and George enjoyed the honour of being the first pair of foreigners (brothers too) to play in an FA Cup Final, beating Arsenal 1-0 on May 3rd 1952 with George's goal, immortalised by a young John Lennon and used on the album cover of "Walls and Bridges" Album.

 Newcastle became the first club to win the FA Cup in successive years since Blackburn Rovers in 1890 and 1891.

Later he went on to play at Colo Colo with Ted (1953-58: 153 apps-84 goals) and then to the Club Deportivo O'Higgins Futbol in Rancagua until 1960, when he retired.

George played 31 times for Chile scoring 8 goals.
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2018/06/scoring-on-debut-sounds-like-good-date.html
He died in Chile aged 62.
Ted went in to the oil tanker business after football and died mysteriously at sea at the age of 42.

Two "Blue Plaques, as a memorial, have been erected; one on the family home in the Dearne Valley and one in their later Newcastle home, nearly 70 years from George's cup winning goal.

Remember that England had their first major embarrassment in international football in this their first World Cup in 1950. England had beaten Chile 2-0, who only had one professional footballer in their team, George Robledo, who at the time was on Newcastle United's books. England looked a decent bet for getting out of the group. But, against the "amateurs" of the USA in their second group match they lost 0-1. Then Chile beat the USA 5-2.  England had to win their last group game v Spain in the Maracana, but the "Gods" were not on  their side and they lost 0-1. Hey-ho....