George David Shaw was a former professional

Professional

A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...

 footballer, who played for Huddersfield Town

Huddersfield Town F.C.

Huddersfield Town Football Club is an English football club formed in 1908 and based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. They currently play in League One...

, Oldham Athletic

Oldham Athletic A.F.C.

Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is an English association football club based at Boundary Park, on Sheepfoot Lane in Oldham, Greater Manchester. The club currently competes in the Football League One, the third tier of the English league...

 and West Bromwich Albion

West Bromwich Albion F.C.

West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...

.
He was the grandson of David Steele

David Steele

David Stanley Steele was an English international cricketer. Tony Greig picked him for England in 1975, when he was close to retirement from county cricket for Northamptonshire....

, triple championship winner and later manager of Huddersfield Town, so it was hardly surprising that David Shaw should begin his career with his home town club.

However, after just 24 games and 3 goals, in September 1969 he was part of an exchange deal in which Les Chapman

Les Chapman

Leslie "Les" Chapman is an English former football player and manager and legendary Kit Man at Manchester City F.C. As a player, he made 749 appearances in the Football League in a career that spanned 22 seasons, playing for Oldham Athletic, Huddersfield Town, Stockport County, Bradford City,...

 moved to Leeds Road

Leeds Road

Leeds Road may refer to:* Leeds Road, former football and rugby league stadium in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England* A660 road, West Yorkshire, England, between Golden Acre Park and the Otley bypass...

 from Oldham Athletic and Shaw moved across the Pennines

Pennines

The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...

 to join the Lancashire club. His speed off the mark and eye for a goal soon made him a favourite with the Boundary Park

Boundary Park

Boundary Park is the main sports stadium of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies at the northwestern extremity of Oldham, with the towns of Royton and Chadderton lying immediately north and west respectively, giving rise to the name Boundary Park....

 faithful, and his partnership with Jim Fryatt

Jim Fryatt

Jim Fryatt is a retired English footballer who played as a striker. During his playing career he was nicknamed 'Pancho'.-Football League:...

 in the 1970-71 season, when he scored 23 goals and Fryatt scored 24, made a major contribution to the Oldham

Oldham

Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...

 club's promotion from Division 4.

His continued success over the next two seasons led to what was then a big-money transfer in March 1973, when he moved to West Bromwich Albion for a fee of £80,000. Playing at a higher level, he was not to achieve quite the same success as he had in the lower divisions, scoring 17 league goals in 65 starts for the Midlands club. He was already starting to suffer from niggling injuries towards the end of his time there, and in October 1975 he moved back to Oldham

Oldham

Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...

on a free transfer.

He maintained a more than reasonable strike rate on his return to the club, netting 21 goals in his 59 appearances over the next three years, but he was troubled by a knee injury for much of this time and was forced to retire in 1978.