Charles Wreford-Brown (9 October 1866 – 26 November 1951) was an English sportsman. He captained the
England national football team
The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...
and was a county cricketer during the Victorian age, and later acted as a sports legislator during the 20th century. Wreford-Brown is usually credited with inventing the term ''soccer'' as an abbreviation for ''association football''.
Upbringing and amateur status
Wreford-Brown was born in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
went to
Charterhouse School before studying at
Oriel College, Oxford. Given his privileged economic status at the time of the rise in the popularity of football, Wreford-Brown was one of a select few who were able to play sports for no monetary gain whatsoever.
The educated belief in the purity of a noble athletic spirit untainted by the corrupting influence of money was embodied within the rise of the
Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to:
*Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible:
**First Epistle to the Corinthians
**Second Epistle to the Corinthians
**Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox)
*A demonym relating to ...
football club who Wreford-Brown played for in the 1890s. Indeed, in 1906 Wreford-Brown was one of the leading figures in the movement to create the
Amateur Football Alliance
The Amateur Football Alliance is a county football association in England. It is unusual among county FAs in not serving a particular geographical area. It was founded in 1906 as the Amateur Football Defence Council, was briefly known as the Ama ...
in London in order to keep the amateur game separate from the Football Association, an organisation that the amateur clubs found to be increasingly driven by the financial gain of the professional clubs.
Sporting Achievement
He was a keen sportsman at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
and played both
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
and
football for the university. He also later played cricket for
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
. His younger brother,
Oswald Oswald may refer to:
People
*Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name
*Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name
Fictional characters
*Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbur ...
(who died during the first World War in 1916) and son
Anthony
Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...
would, like him, also play for first-class cricket but none were stand-outs with the willow.
However it is as a footballer that he is more recognised. He first played as a goalkeeper but played initially as a stop-gap but later as the mainstay centre-half for the
Old Carthusians (the club for ex-Charterhouse boys) (appearing against them in the 1896
London Charity Cup
The London Charity Cup was one of the London Football Association's cup competitions.
History
The London FA previously ran three senior cup competitions, the London Challenge Cup, the London Senior Cup (known also as the London Senior Amateur ...
final,
Clifton Association (the Association which took in Bristol and its environs and with whom he played in the inaugural
Gloucestershire Cup
Gloucestershire Cup was the informal name of an association football competition held under the auspices of the Gloucestershire County Football Association on 99 occasions from 1887 to 1996. The full name of the competition changed over time: o ...
), as well as the
Corinthians
The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...
and captained
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
twice against Wales in 1894 and 1895 (when the team consisted entirely of amateur players).
Steve Bloomer
Stephen Bloomer (20 January 1874 – 16 April 1938) was an England international footballer and manager who played for Derby County – becoming their record goalscorer – and Middlesbrough. The anthem " Steve Bloomer's Watchin'" is played at ...
, one of the leading "players" (professionals) on the England team, recorded in a memoir that, as captain, the patrician Wreford-Brown on one occasion took to the field with a deep pocket in his shorts filled with gold sovereigns and pressed one of the coins into the hand of each professional goalscorer after the man had netted.
Corinthian FC
Charles Wreford-Brown was a leading figure for the era's most prominent football club,
Corinthian FC
Corinthian Football Club was an English amateur football club based in London between 1882 and 1939.
Above all, the club is credited with having popularised football around the world, having promoted sportsmanship and fair play, and having ...
. A constant figure throughout the club's golden era, he played 161 games for the club, scoring 8 goals. In 1894, Corinthian FC became the only club still to this day, to ever fully represent the England National side, and Charles Wreford-Brown would Captain the side. He would too, when the extraordinary feat was repeated a year later.
Corinthian FC were strict amateurs who believed in fair play and who had the "Corinthian Spirit" named in their honour. They are the team credited with having popularised the sport around the world with many tours and with them, Wreford-Brown travelled to S.Africa, USA, Canada, Sweden & Denmark.
A strong defender, Wreford-Brown played in some of the club's famous victories over professional opponents such as Liverpool, Southampton, Sunderland and Spurs.
Legislator
He was first appointed to the council of
The Football Association
The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...
to represent the Old Carthusians in 1892 but soon after served as the representative for Oxford University, a position he held until his death some 59 years later. He later became Chairman of the
International Selection Committee for England within the Football Association.
He was in attendance at the first meeting of the
Athenian League
The Athenian League was an English amateur football league for clubs in and around London. The league was originally to be called the Corinthian League,Athenian Football League minutes 1912-1921 (National Football Museum, Preston). but this nam ...
on 27 May 1914. He served as a vice-president of the FA from 1941 until his death in 1951, under
Sir Stanley Rous, secretary of the Association. They have been credited with guiding the Association toward a more educated position, promoting youth coaching and training just before hostilities in 1939.
He was also a keen chess player. In 1924, in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
Charles Wreford-Brown participated in
unofficial Chess Olympiad.
He took part in the 1933
British Chess Championship
The British Chess Championships are organised by the English Chess Federation. The main tournament incorporates the British Championship, the English Chess Championships and the British Women's Chess Championship so it is possible, although it has ...
, though he had to drop out through illness after two rounds (he had won the first game and drawn the second).
References
External links
*
*
*
Bibliography
*
*
Further reading
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wreford-Brown, Charles
1866 births
1951 deaths
Cricketers from Bristol
England international footballers
English footballers
Clifton Association F.C. players
Oxford University A.F.C. players
Corinthian F.C. players
English cricketers
Gloucestershire cricketers
Oxford University cricketers
People educated at Charterhouse School
Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford
Footballers from Bristol
Old Carthusians F.C. players
Association football defenders
Charles
Lord Hawke's XI cricketers
English chess players