When George Kitchen arrived at The Dell in October 1912, Southampton had been without a settled goalkeeper since Tom Burrows featured in all bar the last game of the 1910-11 season.

A former England trialist, George had been Everton’s ’keeper when they were runners-up in the First Division in 1901-02 and had played more than 200 times for Southern League West Ham. (He became West Ham’s penalty-taker, after he had scored from the spot in his first game for them – against Swindon Town in September 1905 – making him the first-ever goalkeeper to score on debut).  

Ideally built for goalkeeping duties, he went straight into a Southampton side that had shipped 26 goals in their opening nine games of the season.

Although their next nine games included an 8-0 walloping by Crystal Palace, George kept five clean sheets in them. He kept his place until the following autumn when, at the age of 37, he gave way to 25 year-old Ernie Steventon.

George left for Boscombe at the end of that season, to play in the South-Eastern League, along with Southampton’s Reserves, but that was not his main mission in that vicinity. He had become a professional golfer at the age of 14 and, while with the Saints, he had secured a post near Dean Court, as the professional at Queens Park Golf Club, a position from which he initially continued to earn a living after retirement from football. In 1932 his Sports Outfitters business which carried his name went bankrupt and five years later he passed away.