Quick Facts
Biography
George Sage (born December 1872) was an English footballer who played as an outside or inside forward.
Sage was born in Woolwich, London and lived in East Ham. He was employed as a boilermaker for Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company and was well known on the local football scene. His first club, in the 1892-93 season, was Old St. Lukes. Sage then played for Old Castle Swifts which had merged with Old St. Lukes for the 1894-95 season taking over their ground in Hermit Road, Canning Town. Swifts themselves collapsed as an entity in 1895 and Sage's contract was picked up by Thames Ironworks, the club that later became West Ham United.
Sage could play in any forward position. He played at least 20 games for Thames Ironworks in the 1895-96 season and was a regular during the first half of the season. He was also part of the Thames Ironworks team that lost their first ever competitive fixture, a 5-0 defeat against Chatham Town in the FA Cup on 12 October 1895. Sage won the West Ham Charity Cup with the club in 1896 with Ironworks beating Barking, 1-0 in the final played in Beckton.
The 1896-97 season saw Sage's appearances limited to just six games. Two of these were friendlies and a game each in the London League, the London Senior Cup, the Essex Senior Cup and the South Essex League. Sage's London League appearance, on 22 October 1896, had seen him score Ironworks only goal in a 4-1 defeat by 3rd Grenadier Guards.