Corinthian F.C.

Did You Know?

• Corinthian inflicted Manchester United's heaviest defeat, beating them 11–3 in a friendly in Leyton, London in 1904.
• Corinthian fielded the first Black player to play Association football at international level, Andrew Watson, who played for Scotland.

History

The club was founded on 28 September 1882 by Nicholas Lane Jackson, Assistant Secretary of the Football Association. At that time, Scotland had won three consecutive matches over England by scores of 5–1, 6–1 and 5–4. Jackson attributed Scotland's success to 'the greater opportunities our opponents over the border have of playing together' and aimed to form a club 'composed of the best amateur players in the kingdom'. To achieve this, Corinthian avoided playing matches on Saturdays so players could play for other clubs.

The first proposed name was the 'Wednesday Club', but Harry Swepstone suggested 'Corinthian Football Club'. From the outset, the club supplied large numbers of players to the England team; during the 1880s, the majority of England caps were awarded to Corinthian players. For two England matches against Wales in 1894 and 1895, the entire team consisted of club members, a feat achieved by no other club. The club's constitution declared it should 'not compete for any challenge cup or any prize of any description', so it originally played only friendly matches.

An exception was later made for the Sheriff of London Charity Shield, which they competed for nine times between 1898 and 1907, winning three. Corinthian began competing in the FA Cup from the 1922–23 season and also played in the 1927 FA Charity Shield against Cardiff City, losing 2–1 at Stamford Bridge.

Tours

The club's foreign tours are credited with popularising football around the world; they were the first club to take the sport outside Europe. Tours included South Africa, Canada, the United States, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Denmark, Holland, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Brazil, Ireland, Jamaica and Germany. During 'The Split' from 1907 to 1914, a dispute about professional clubs being admitted to country Football Associations, Corinthian pledged allegiance to the Amateur Football Alliance. Banned from playing top home opposition by The FA, the club increased the frequency of foreign tours; of 131 matches played before the split was resolved in January 1914, 72 were played abroad. The club played at various venues including the Queen's Club, The Oval, and the old Crystal Palace. On 12 April 1939, the Corinthians played their last match before merging with Casuals F.C.

England international players

Corinthian had 86 England internationals and 16 England captains, the most of any club. The club also had 12 Welsh internationals, 8 Scottish internationals, and 2 Irish internationals. Seventeen players had Corinthian as their principal club, including Claude Ashton, Alfred Bower, Jackie Burns, Bertie Corbett, Norman Creek, Graham Doggart, Tip Foster, C. B. Fry, Jackie Hegan, Arthur Henfrey, Cecil Holden-White, Anthony Hossack, Vaughan Lodge, Bernard Middleditch, William Oakley, Basil Patchitt, G. O. Smith, and Geoffrey Plumpton Wilson. Danish international Nils Middelboe played for Corinthian after finishing his career with Chelsea.