The Anglo Chilean Society was founded in 1944. Its mission is to help people in the UK to get to know Chile better – its people, history, language, culture, traditions, and everything that makes it unique, from its arts to its economy. To do that it hosts talks, concerts, film nights, and fun social events throughout the year.

My wife and I have both been members for many years and she has served on the committee for most of that time. She has served terms as Vice-Chairman, Secretary and recently as Coordinator of Grants. One that the Society granted recently was to Spencer Vignes, Freelance Sports Writer and Author. He writes articles and book about sport, with an historical angle. He had been researching and at the time of making his application was in the early stages of writing the biography of George Robledo. George, who was born in 1926 and died in 1989, is arguably the most famous Chilean ever to play football in the UK and held the record for many years for the most goals scored in the top-flight of English football in a single season by an overseas player. This was 33 league goals for Newcastle United in the 1951-52 season and he also scored the winning goal in the 1952 FA Cup final for Newcastle United and played for Chile at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.

Although George is fondly remembered by older football fans in Barnsley, Yorkshire where he grew up having moved from Chile, and in Newcastle where he became a folk hero, his legacy has diminished as the decades have gone by. Spencer’s application said that he wanted people to rediscover and learn about George and the key role he played, not just as a footballer but in forging Anglo-Chilean relations. The project would entail writing a biography of his life. This legacy would be aimed at football supporters, sports enthusiast, English speaking people with an interest in Chile and the country's heritage. It would raise George Robledo’s profile as a sportsman as the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1926 approaches.  Spencer sought the maximum grant of £500. Carmen recommended that this should be granted and the Society agreed.

This week meetings were held to launch the book in Barnsley, Newcastle and then in London in a meeting organised by the Anglo Chilean Society in the Chilean Embassy in the presence of the Chilean Ambassador. We both attended and indeed the turnout was one of the best I can ever remember for any Anglo Chilean Society event. This particular event was clearly unique in character. As I said Spencer explained that his book was aimed at football supporters, sports enthusiasts and English-speaking people with an interest in Chile and the country heritage. Well, I fall into all three of those categories and indeed possibly unlike the majority of members of the Society I had indeed heard before of George Robledo’ exploits and knew that he was the first professional footballer in the English top division to have been born outside the United Kingdom.

Spencer explained George Robledo’s story very well. He had been abandoned by his Chilean father as a child in Chile but his mother actually came from Yorkshire and so finding themselves in difficulties his mother and her sons came to the UK where they were raised in a Yorkshire mining village. George served underground as a Bevin boy during the Second World War. After the war he joined Barnsley Football Club where he quickly made his name.  The bigger clubs in the north soon came looking for him and he joined Newcastle United. During the 1951-52 season his 33 goals for Newcastle United in the then First Division were the most goals scored in a single season by an overseas registered foreign-born player and remained so until the very recent past when in 2022- 23 Erling Haaland of Manchester City scored 36 goals.  It’s no disgrace to lose your goal scoring record after over 70 years to a player like Haaland playing for Manchester City when they were becoming Premier League Champions for the fifth time in six consecutive seasons.

The book is called Postcards From Santiago which has hints of Postcards from the Edge but it reflects George’s character and as someone who lived abroad in England and then having made many friends there went to live for the rest of his life in Chile, he kept in touch with hundreds maybe thousands of people through writing and sending postcards. I have only read a few chapters of the book so far and so cannot fill out the whole story in this blog but I can say that it is the poignant and inspiring story of Robledo’s remarkable journey from the moon-like wastes of the Atacama Desert to being featured in a picture painted by John Lennon published on his 1974 album Walls and Bridges. George played in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil and actually in England’s first ever World Cup match he became the first Football League player from outside the British Isles to face England in an official international. This story was not just about football – it was about connection, migration, heritage and the journeys that shape our shared identity. George Robledo, the first non-British registered foreign player to become England’s top goal scorer, remains a powerful symbol of resilience and cultural pride.

I enjoyed a brief chat with Spencer after his presentation and introduced myself as the husband of the lady who had coordinated his grant application. Who knows? If not for her perhaps this remarkable book would never have been written.