Moorhouse George Image 1 Tranmere Rovers 1922

Description

Liverpool born outside left George Moorhouse served in the British Merchant Marine during the First World War. After the war, he decided to try his luck as a footballer. Predominantly left sided, Moorhouse had an unsuccessful trial with Leeds United. However he signed for Third Division (North) club Tranmere Rovers in 1921, for whom he played two first team matches making his Football League debut against Ashington on Boxing Day 1921 and playing at Accrington Stanley on 28th January 1922. He then played with Rovers’ reserve team in the Cheshire League.

In 1923 he emigrated to Canada, eventually gaining a position with the Montreal Canadian Pacific Railway team. He spent only a few months with Montreal before transferring to the Brooklyn Wanderers of the nascent American Soccer League (ASL). He played in only three games before moving to New York Giants where he remained for the next seven seasons, scoring 45 goals in over 250 games.

In 1928, the Giants were expelled from the ASL during the “Soccer War” and Moorhouse remained with them during their season and a half in the Eastern Professional Soccer League. In 1929, Moorhouse and the Giants returned to the ASL. In the summer of 1930, the Giants were sold to new ownership which renamed the team the New York Soccer Club. Then in 1931, the team merged with the Fall River Marksmen to become the New York Yankees for the 1931 spring season. In the fall of 1931, Moorhouse moved to the New York Americans. In 1933, the first ASL collapsed, to be replaced by a new league, also known as the American Soccer League. The Americans joined the new league and Moorehouse played with them until 1937 leading that side to two National Challenge Cup titles.

Moorhouse earned his first cap for the United States national team in a 6-1 victory over Canada on 6th November 1926. While he was not called into the team for either of the U.S. games in 1928, he was selected for the U.S. squad at the 1930 FIFA World Cup. The Americans accepted the offer from FIFA to participate in the World Cup and Moorhouse played in all three matches in Uruguay as a defender. His appearance in the first U.S. match, a 3-0 victory over Belgium on 13th July, 1930 at Parque Central in Montevideo, made Moorhouse the first native-born Englishman to play in the World Cup. Moorhouse then played the next two matches as the U.S. went to the semi finals only to fall to Argentina in a particularly physical game. Several U.S. players were injured and the team finished with only eight fit field players and a lame goalkeeper as substitutes were not allowed.

The U.S. did not have any international matches until the 1934 FIFA World Cup in Italy. Moorhouse was selected as team captain for the Cup. Because the U.S. had applied late for entry into the Cup, the team had to play a qualification match against Mexico in Italy. Although the U.S. won the match 4-2, they were heavily beaten and eliminated in the first round by Italy in Rome.

He was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1986.