| George Ewing |
 George Ewing was probably born in Scotland, sometime between 17th June, 1911 and 16th June, 1912. The forward signed for Donald Turner's Thistle on Saturday, 11th June, 1932, having most recently been with Clydebank Juniors. Aged 20 or 21, he made his only appearance on Saturday, 20th August, 1932, in a 2-1 defeat away to St Johnstone in the SFL First Division. That day, George became a member of our scoring debutant's club. His club-list included Partick Anchoria, Clydebank Juniors and Partick Thistle. We don't know where or when George died. *
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 Although he played his only first-team game at centre-forward, George was mainly regarded as a right back before, during and after his time at Firhill. In his late teens he was playing in the juvenile game with Partick Anchoria, before signing with Clydebank Juniors in September 1931. His season-long stint at Kilbowie Road finished with a winners medal in the Elder Hospital FA Cup and - thanks to collector Damion Asquith - we have the solid gold artefact to prove it (see 'Gallery' tab). The Elder Hospital was based in Govan and, interestingly, had its own Football Association, the purpose of which seems to have been to run a fundraising charity cup competition for a number of years. Clydebank Juniors won it three years-in-a-row from 1931. The Daily Record (2 July 1932) reported on the success of the 1931-32 tournament: “Elder Cottage Hospital Football Association, at their social evening in Govan last night, handed over a cheque for £65 for the funds of the hospital. The Cup was presented to Mr. O'Hara, of Clydebank Juniors, last season's winners, and Renfrew were handed the runners-up medals.” After his successful stint with the Bankies, Ewing, reportedly 20 years of age, was signed to terms at Firhill in June 1932. It was further reported that he'd scored 12 goals in his last 4 games, and this seems to have captured the attention of manager Donald Turner, desperately searching for an affordable and prolific hitman. George made an instant impact, scoring twice on his debut for the reserves at Tynecastle in a Scottish Alliance match on 13th August. Alas, Thistle contrived to convert a two goal winning margin into a 3-2 loss! Just 7 days later, George got his big chance, Wyllie having failed to impress in the opening day defeat at home to the Hearts first eleven. The Jags were bound for Muirton Park on match day two, but the press were less than complimentary about the fare on offer. As the Evening News put it, “Partick Thistle, with a radically altered frontline showed no improvement at Perth, and were losers in a game which, by all accounts, had little of football skill to commend it.” Play was “a muddle of imperfections” according to the Herald. St Johnstone's first goal (25) looked suspiciously off-side. George wasted a glorious chance but scored in his only game for the club with an unmarked header (40). A poorly defended 20-yard free-kick in the second half won it, but it was two poor teams. It seems strange that he was never given a second chance after his scoring debut, but that's the fact of it. John Torbet (21) and Davie Ness (12) were the top competitive scorers in what was a fairly hum-drum middle of the table campaign. George played out the remainder of the season in the reserves, where he reverted to his natural position as a right back. In May 1933, the Evening Telegraph reported that Thistle had a hectic time signing junior players during the past season and that it came as no great surprise to find them letting away number of them. George was one of several to be granted a free transfer, and he was re-instated as a junior several weeks later, signing for a second spell with Clydebank Juniors in September 1933. |
| (WS/AFK/DMAC) |
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