George (Snooze) Ireland was born in 1888 in Nelson, ON (now part of Burlington). Ireland's nickname seems to stem from his well known abilitgy to fall asleep on a moment's notice in almost any situation.  Ireland was aexcellent all around athlete, starring in hockey and baseball as well as football.

In 1912, Ireland played junior football for th eHamilton Alerts Junoir team which won the ORFU junioir title.  Ireland moved up to play for the senior Hamiltion Tigers of the IRFU / Big Four in 1914 and 1915, and was part of the the Tigers team that won the last Grey Cup before the first world war in 1915.  In  The IRFU suspended play for the duration of the the war, but Ireland played in 1916 for th Hamilton 205th Batallion.  ireland returned to play for the Tigers after the war in 1919, serving as the team captain.  Ireland continued to play as late as 1923 when he played for the Hamilton Rowing Club in the ORFU. Ireland originally played Scrimage, a position that disapeared in 1921 when the number of players on the field was reduced from 14 to the modern 12.  Instead of three scrimages playing in the center of the line, a snap (or center) was introduced to replace them.

Note: Much of the material for this bio of George Ireland comes from this longer profile

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