Profile

George Tyson was born on Christmas Eve 1879 in the Tommyfield area of Oldham. His first club was a church hall team called Vale Hornets who had some allegiance to the Roscoe Hornets club. He played for other local teams before ending up at Werneth where his good form caught the eye of the Oldham officials and he was invited for trials.

A speedy and elusive wing man, George was soon in the senior side and topped the Oldham try list for three consecutive seasons. 1906-07, 1907-08 and 1908-09. His talents were rewarded with caps at county and international level. Indeed it was he who scored the try that won the first ever “Ashes” series against the Australian touring team of 1908.

With the series standing at one win to Britain and one draw, the “Kangaroos” were leading 5 3 going into the final minutes of the last test played at Villa Park, Birmingham. With time ticking away, centre Jim Lomas of Salford and later of Oldham, put George over for the vital try that won the match 6-5. The whole series was a personal success for George who played and scored in every test.

He was selected for the first tour down under in 1910 but declined the invitation having just taken over at the Farmer’s Boy Public House, on Huddersfield Road, which coincided with the birth of his son.

Also well known for a keen defensive game, he was once told to keep a close watch on the aforementioned Lomas in an Oldham v Salford encounter, and upon coming to Watersheddings, Jim was to recall the match and the fact that he finished the game black and blue from Tyson’s attention, commenting that George had tackled him every time they were in the same area, whether he had the ball or not!

In later life he became a keen bowler and was the first winner of the Oldham Chronicle Bowling Championship.