Our Rover of the Day is George Flowers.
George was born in Darlaston in Staffordshire but moved to Edlington with his family as a young boy. In July 1928 he joined Rovers from Edlington Welfare and made his debut in December 1929 in a FA Cup tie against Northern League side Shildon. He became established in the first team as a half-back and in 1934-35 he missed only two League games.
That season Rovers won the Division Three (North) Championship, their first divisional title within the Football League. The following season George lost his place to George Gladwin, but he had an interesting experience on 14th March 1936.
Having travelled to Bradford City with the Rovers team as a reserve, he was asked to act as a linesman when one of the officials failed to appear. He did the job satisfactorily and was given the official’s match fee. In May 1936 he joined Bradford Park Avenue and a year later he signed for Tranmere Rovers, where he spent two seasons. He signed for Rochdale in 1939 but had not played a League game for them when World War Two broke out. Two of George’s nephews were professional footballers, Ron playing for Wolves and won 49 caps while John made 186 appearances for Rovers. George died in 1991. His Rovers record was 162 appearances and eight goals.
