View source for George Robledo

{{Short description|Chilean footballer (1926–1989)}}
{{redirect|Jorge Robledo|those of a similar name|Jorge Robledo (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name             = George Robledo
| image            = Jorge Robledo, Estadio, 1950-06-03 (368).jpg
| caption          = George Robledo in the kit of the Chile national football team (1950).
| fullname         = George Oliver Robledo<ref name="Williams" />
| height           = 1.75 m<ref>{{Cite web |last=Strack-Zimmermann |first=Benjamin |title=George Robledo (Player) |url=https://www.national-football-teams.com/player/27099/George_Robledo.html |access-date=2022-09-12 |website=national-football-teams.com |language=en}}</ref>
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1926|4|14|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Iquique]], Chile
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1989|4|1|1926|4|14|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Viña del Mar]], Chile
| position         = [[Inside-forward]]
| youthyears1 =
| youthclubs1 =
| years1 = 1946–1949
| years2 = 1949–1953
| years3 = 1953–1958
| years4 = 1959–1960
| clubs1 = [[Barnsley F.C.|Barnsley]]
| clubs2 = [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]]
| clubs3 = [[Colo-Colo]]
| clubs4 = [[O'Higgins F.C.|O'Higgins]]
| caps1 = 105
| caps2 = 146
| caps3 = 153
| caps4 = 21
| goals1 = 45
| goals2 = 82
| goals3 = 84
| goals4 = 6
| totalcaps = 425
| totalgoals = 217
| nationalyears1 = 1950–1957
| nationalteam1 = [[Chile national football team|Chile]]
| nationalcaps1 = 31
| nationalgoals1 = 8
| manageryears1  = 1955
| managerclubs1  = [[Colo-Colo]]
}}

'''George Oliver Robledo'''<ref name="Williams">{{cite web|url= https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-the-story-of-the-fabulous-robledo-boys-1094964.html | title= The story of the fabulous Robledo boys | work=The Independent | last1=Williams | first1=Richard | quote=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. | date=21 May 1999 | access-date=11 October 2023}}</ref> (14 April 1926 – 1 April 1989) was a Chilean professional [[association football|footballer]]. He played as a striker, and is most notable for his time spent with [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]]. He was the first non-British-registered foreign player to become [[English football first tier top scorers|top scorer in England]].

==Background==
Robledo was born in [[Iquique]], Chile to a Chilean father and an English mother. He emigrated with his family to [[Brampton Bierlow|Brampton]], Yorkshire in 1932, at the age of five, due to the instability in Chile at the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pratina.tripod.com/id16.html|title=All Time Greats|publisher=tripod.com|access-date=27 November 2015}}</ref>

==Club career==
Robledo started his footballing career at [[Huddersfield Town A.F.C.|Huddersfield Town]], playing as a [[Part-time job|part-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 to [[Football League Second Division|Second Division]] [[Barnsley F.C.|Barnsley]] during [[World War II]]. [[Football League First Division|First Division]] club [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]] signed him on 27 January 1949, for a fee of £26,500. The fee included his brother [[Ted Robledo|Ted]]; 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 to [[Charlton Athletic F.C.|Charlton Athletic]] on 5 February, while his first league goal came a month later in the [[Tyne–Wear derby|derby]] match against [[Sunderland A.F.C.|Sunderland]] at [[St 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 was [[Jackie 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 the [[1950–51 in English football|1950–51 season]] and became the first South American to play in the [[1951 FA Cup final|FA Cup final]], when Newcastle beat Blackpool 2–0 to lift the Cup. Robledo finished as [[Football League Division One|Division One]]'s top scorer in the [[1951–52 in English football|1951–52 season]] with 33 goals, 39 in all competitions (equalling [[Hughie Gallacher]]'s record). Robledo finished the season by scoring the goal which defeated [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] in the [[1952 FA Cup final|FA Cup final]], helping Newcastle lift the cup in successive seasons. The goal scored by Robledo was drawn by a young [[John Lennon]], who included it in the artwork of his album ''[[Walls and Bridges]]'' in 1974.<ref name=molina>{{cite news|last1=Molina|first1=Paula|title=Jorge Robledo, el futbolista chileno inmortalizado en un disco de John Lennon|url=http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2016/04/160404_deportes_futbol_chile_jorge_robledo_beatles_john_lennon_dibujo_jmp|access-date=25 April 2017|publisher=BBC Mundo|date=4 April 2016|language=es}}</ref>{{external media | float = right | width = 300px | video1 = [https://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-cup-final-16 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 by [[Dwight Yorke]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2001/apr/04/theknowledge.sport|title=Robledo of the pack?|work=The Guardian|author=Sean Ingle & Scott Murray|date=4 April 2001|access-date=27 November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2001/apr/11/theknowledge.sport|title=Lucky, lucky Arsenal|work=The Guardian|author=Sean Ingle & Scott Murray|date=11 April 2001|access-date=27 November 2015}}</ref>). At the end of the season, Ted Robledo was sold to [[Colo-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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablesc/chiletops.html|title=Chile – list of Topscorers|publisher=[[Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation]]|access-date=27 November 2015}}</ref>

Robledo left Colo-Colo in 1958, and spent a year out of football, before signing for [[O'Higgins F.C.|Club Deportivo O'Higgins]] where he played out the final years of his career, until his retirement in 1960.

==International career==
[[Chile national football team|Chile]] recruited Robledo for the [[1950 FIFA World Cup]], even though he spoke no Spanish. He made his debut in the opening group game against [[England national football team|England]] (one of his opponents reputedly warned him after he'd hit the post "Steady, George, you're not playing for Newcastle now, you know")<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.englandfootballonline.com/Seas1946-60/1949-50/M0256Chi1950.html|title=England Match No. 256 – Chile – 25 June 1950 – Match Summary and Report|publisher=England Football Online|access-date=27 November 2015}}</ref> and scored in Chile's 5–2 victory over the [[United States men's national soccer team|United States]]. He was in the Chile squad for the [[1955 South American Championship|1955]] and [[1957 South American Championship]]s, 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.

==Personal life==
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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/4826466.Lennon____sketch_of_United_cup_hero___/|title=Newcastle United legend George Robledo on Lennon sketch|publisher=The Northern Echo|date=31 December 2009|access-date=27 November 2015}}</ref>

His brother Ted had died nearly 20 years earlier, having fallen from an oil tanker into the sea off the coast of [[Dubai]] in December 1970. His body has never been found.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://toon1892.com/detail_player.php?id=642|title=Player Details : Jorge Oliver "George" Robledo|publisher=Toon1892.com|access-date=27 November 2015}}</ref>

In May 2022, his daughter, Elizabeth, announced that she would auction some belongings of her father. The shirt with which George scored the goal against [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] in the [[1952 FA Cup final]] – the goal that was included in the artwork of the [[John Lennon]] album ''[[Walls and Bridges]]''<ref name=molina/> – was sold for £7,500.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Orrego Bocchieri |first1=Héctor |title=Histórica camiseta con la que Jorge Robledo fue campeón en Newcastle United es rematada en casi 8 millones de pesos chilenos |url=https://redgol.cl/internacional/Historica-camiseta-de-Jorge-Robledo-campeon-en-Newcastle-United-es-rematada-en-millonario-monto-20220526-0091.html |website=RedGol |access-date=1 June 2022 |language=es |date=26 May 2022}}</ref>

==Honours==
'''Newcastle United'''
*[[FA Cup]]: [[1950–51 FA Cup|1950–51]],<ref>{{cite book |first1=Leslie |first2=Jack |last1=Vernon |last2=Rollin |title=Rothmans Football Yearbook 1977–78 |year=1977 |publisher=Brickfield Publications Ltd |location=London |isbn=0354 09018 6 |page=489}}</ref> [[1951–52 FA Cup|1951–52]]<ref>{{cite book |first1=Leslie |first2=Jack |last1=Vernon |last2=Rollin |title=Rothmans Football Yearbook 1977–78 |year=1977 |publisher=Brickfield Publications Ltd |location=London |isbn=0354 09018 6 |page=490}}</ref>

'''Colo-Colo'''
*[[Campeonato Nacional (Chile)|Primera División de Chile]]: 1953, 1956
*[[Copa Chile]]: 1958

'''Individual'''
*[[Football League First Division]] top scorer: 1951–52
*[[Campeonato Nacional (Chile)|Primera División de Chile]] top scorer: 1953, 1954

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Books===
*{{cite book | last = Hutchinson | first = Roger | title = The Toon: A Complete History of Newcastle United | publisher = Mainstream Publishing Ltd. | year = 1997 | isbn = 1-85158-956-2 | id = () }}
*''[https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/postcards-from-santiago Postcards from Santiago: The George Robledo Story – The First Overseas Star of English Football]'' by Spencer Vignes (Biteback Publishing, 2025) {{ISBN|9781785909740}}

==External links==
*[http://palabradefutbol.blogspot.com/2006/05/la-azarosa-historia-de-los-hermanos.html Palabra de Fútbol] Article in Spanish, retrieved 24 May 2006.

{{Navboxes
|title=Awards
|bg=gold
|fg=navy
|list1=
{{English First Division top scorers}}
{{PDC topscorers}}
}}
{{Navboxes
| title = Chile squads
| bg = #D72B1F
| fg = white
| bordercolor = #0039A6
| list1 =
{{Chile squad 1950 FIFA World Cup}}
{{Chile squad 1955 South American Championship}}
{{Chile squad 1957 South American Championship}}
}}
{{O'Higgins F.C. managers}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robledo, George}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:1989 deaths]]
[[Category:Footballers from Iquique]]
[[Category:Chilean men's footballers]]
[[Category:Barnsley F.C. players]]
[[Category:Newcastle United F.C. players]]
[[Category:Colo-Colo footballers]]
[[Category:O'Higgins F.C. footballers]]
[[Category:English Football League players]]
[[Category:First Division/Premier League top scorers]]
[[Category:Chilean Primera División players]]
[[Category:Chile men's international footballers]]
[[Category:1950 FIFA World Cup players]]
[[Category:Chilean football managers]]
[[Category:Chilean Primera División managers]]
[[Category:Colo-Colo managers]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in England]]
[[Category:Chilean expatriate sportspeople in England]]
[[Category:Chilean emigrants to England]]
[[Category:Chilean people of English descent]]
[[Category:English men's footballers]]
[[Category:Men's association football forwards]]
[[Category:20th-century English sportsmen]]
[[Category:20th-century Chilean sportsmen]]