Robledo brothers honoured with blue plaque

Chris Brook, grassroots football media in South Yorkshire

A blue plaque will be unveiled on the former home of two international footballing brothers from Chile who became record breakers in this country.

George and Ted Robledo, the first South Americans to play professional football in Britain, starred with Newcastle in the early 1950s, with George a prolific goalscorer for the club.

The unveiling of the plaque at their former home in Fenham, will be on Tuesday, 3 May (1.30pm), 70 years to the day since George scored the winner in the 1952 FA Cup final for Newcastle against Arsenal. The goal was immortalised by John Lennon, who drew a sketch of it as an 11-year-old from a photograph and later used it on the cover of his album Walls And Bridges.

The brothers, who came to England as children from Chile in the early 1930s, were professional footballers at Barnsley FC, and moved together in 1949 to Newcastle United. Here George sets a record for most goals scored by an overseas player in English football - which stood for nearly 50 years - and another for most goals scored in a season by an overseas footballer (33), which still stands today.

The event was postponed two years ago because of the pandemic and will be attended by George’s daughter, Elizabeth, who's flying over from Chile, and a diplomat from the Chilean Embassy in London will be at the unveiling. Elizabeth will be a guest of Newcastle at their home game against Liverpool on 30 April.

A blue plaque will also be unveiled on the Robledo’s former home in Rotherham, on Thursday, 14 April - a date that would have been George’s 96th birthday.