Henry Alfred Cursham (27 November 1859 – 6 August 1941) was an English footballer and

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 striki ...

er. He played football mostly for Notts County, with spells at Corinthian,

Grantham Town Grantham Town Football Club is a football club, based in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the South Kesteven Sports Stadium. History The club was established in 1874 as Grantham Football Club.

and

Thursday Wanderers Thursday is the day of the week between Wednesday and Friday. According to the ISO 8601 international standard, it is the fourth day of the week. In countries which adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the fifth day of the week. Name '' ...

. In cricket, he played two first class games for Nottinghamshire. Cursham holds the individual goalscoring record for the FA Cup, with 49 goals in 44 games. He also played eight games for the England national football team, scoring five goals.

Football career

Cursham was born in 1859 in Wilford, Nottinghamshire. He attended Repton School until age 18 and signed for Notts County in 1877. Cursham made his

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

debut on 16 November 1878 in a 3–1 defeat by local rivals Nottingham Forest. The match was in the first round of the 1878-79 FA Cup, held at Trent Bridge, the home ground of Notts County at that time. He became a regular in the Notts County team, frequently appearing alongside his brother, Arthur Cursham. His club career from 1877 to 1888 is not well recorded: all sources agree that he played mostly for Notts County with shorter spells at Corinthian,

and

, but the dates that he played for each of these clubs are not clear. His FA Cup appearances are known, including scoring six goals for Notts County in a 11–1 win against Wednesbury Strollers in the second round of the 1881-82 FA Cup, held at Trent Bridge on 10 December 1881. He scored four against

Basford Rovers Basford may refer to: People * Basford (surname) Places United Kingdom * Basford, Cheshire * Basford, Nottinghamshire ** Basford Rural District, a rural district close to Nottingham, England, from 1894 to 1974 ** Old Basford, an area of Nottingham ...

in Notts County's 15–0 win (a record at the time) in the first round of the 1886-87 FA Cup on 30 October 1886 at Trent Bridge.

International career

Cursham was selected for the England national football team in 1880, making his international debut in a 3–2 victory over Wales. His first international goal came in his second match, a 13–0 win against Ireland in the 1881–82 season. He scored again in a 5–3 home loss to Wales, and a

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

against Ireland on 23 February 1884; the latter was his final game for the national side. He finished his international career with eight caps and five goals.

Football League

The

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

was formed in 1888. Cursham made his first appearance in the new competition on 6 October 1888 at Trent Bridge, for Notts County in a 3–3 draw with Blackburn Rovers, playing at full back. He scored his first League goal on 12 January 1889, in County's 2–1 victory over West Bromwich Albion, this time playing as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. He appeared in eight of the 22 league matches played by Notts County that season, five at full back and three at centre forward, scoring twice. Cursham made one more league appearance in the 1890–91 season, ending his league career with nine appearances and two goals.

Final years and retirement

Cursham appeared in twice in the 1888-89 FA Cup, scoring one goal, then wrote to the Notts County board in January 1889 announcing his intention to retire. He did not play in the 1889–90 season, but returned in 1890–91 with two more first–team appearances, one in the league and one in the FA Cup, before retiring again. He ended his career with an FA Cup record of 44 games and 49 goals over 12 seasons. , this remains the highest number of goals scored by a player in the FA Cup. Cursham was an advocate for and exponent of dribbling the ball. He was critical of the emphasis on

passing Passing may refer to: Social identity * Passing (sociology), presenting oneself as a member of another sociological group ** Passing (gender), presenting oneself as being cisgender ** Passing (racial identity), presenting oneself as a member ...

tactics that emerged in the Combination Game, which became popular in the 1870s and 1880s. In 1904 he gave an interview to the ''Football Post'', in which he stated that "Individual play was being too greatly sacrificed to the cry of combination."Henry Cursham
at englandfootballonline.com

Cricket career

Cursham also played

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...

for Nottinghamshire, as a

lower order batsman In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

. His first class debut was in 1880, in a draw with

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. Business commitments (he was an insurance broker) prevented Cursham from taking up a career in cricket, which would have required a much greater time commitment than football. He made only one more appearance for Nottinghamshire, 24 years later in 1904 at the age of 44, against a touring South Africa team. His brother, Arthur Cursham was also a first class cricketer. In the handling code, he was good enough to represent Nottinghamshire against Bedfordshire in February 1892.

References

External links

Henry Cursham
at Cricket Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Cursham, Henry 1859 births 1941 deaths Corinthian F.C. players Grantham Town F.C. players English cricketers English footballers England international footballers Nottinghamshire cricketers Notts County F.C. players People from Nottingham (district) Association football forwards