Footballer who was one of the best to play for Henley

GEORGE Douglas, who died on December 16, was one of the best and most popular of Henley Town Football Club’s players in the latter part of the Fifties and start of the Sixties. He was also a prominent member of one of Henley’s best known football families.

As a young boy he was one of a number who spent every available hour playing ad hoc games of football either in the street or in any available field.

As soon as he was introduced to more formal football, George immediately began to make his mark, playing both for and against much older players as early as 1951.

He was a member of Henley YMCA’s junior team in the Henley Minor Cup and soon won promotion to the YM’s reserve side in adult football.

His debut for Henley Town occurred in rather unusual circumstances near the end of the 1954-55 campaign. The town were due to travel to Uxbridge to play Bell Punch in their last away game of the season, but were two men short when they were due to leave the Market Place.

George and his great friend, Brian Crook, were chatting in the vicinity and were hauled into the team. Despite losing 5-2, the Town soon realised that they had found a budding star player but, unfortunately, national service prevented George from making all but very rare appearances in the next two years.

It was by no means certain that he would line up in Henley Town’s ranks when the 1957-58 season dawned but he did so and proved a huge advantage to the club. The Town had just moved up from the Reading and District League to the Hellenic.

But 20 years (including the wartime seasons) had elapsed since they had finished in the top half of the table and the promising wave of new young players who were growing up in the town were dubious about throwing their lot in with a side so starved of success.

Once a player of George’s reputation had signed for the Town, however, the mood changed, and a stream of young players gradually made the move.

Proof of Henley Town’s revival came in 1962-63 when they won the Oxfordshire Charity Cup and the Hellenic League Division 1 Benevolent Fund Cup on successive evenings. The following season they won Division 1 of the League. Numerous more minor honours also came George’s way during his years with the Town.

Though occasionally seen in other positions, George was most at home, and most frequently seen, at right-half. Because of his aptitude for scoring from long range, two managers tried to convert George into an inside-right, but both failed. George was still playing at right-half in 1965-66, his last season with Henley, now mainly in the reserve team. In the twilight of his career, spent at Newtown, he played at right-back.

George was one of the most notable players in a family who have contributed so much on the field to Henley Town Football Club.

George’s father was Bill Douglas, a centre-forward who scored 51 goals in the 1930-31 season. At one period, Bill’s brothers, Alby and Len, both joined him in the first team’s forward line.

At the time, Bill’s 51 was a record, but the Town then managed to capture another phenomenal goal-scorer, Billy Miles, from Hambleden, who three years later passed Bill Douglas’s record by two.

A new role had to be found for Bill, and he was first tried as a deep-lying inside forward in a
W formation, This was not totally successful, but a further experiment saw him move to centre-half, where he made a name for himself all over again.

Among other noteworthy footballers in the Douglas clan was George’s older brother, Alan, who, 27 years later, added his name to the very short list of players throughout senior football who have scored four successive league hat-tricks.

It goes without saying that George was a most skilful player. He loved running at the opposition and was also utterly tireless: he seemed to lose gallons of sweat in every game. It was this as much as anything that made him such a favourite with the supporters. But on top of this, George Douglas was one of the most modest and agreeable people you could ever meet.