THE KING OF FOOTBALL - CHARLES ALCOCK, born in Sunderland in 1842
England international Charles
Alcock (1842-1907) is the most important footballer to be born in Sunderland as
he helped revolutionise the game.
Mark Metcalf
He came into the world in
1842 when he was born in Norfolk Street and his birthplace is today marked by a
plaque that was unveiled by Jordan Henderson over a decade ago. It’s only a
hundred yards from another Sunderland AFC plaque on the same street and of
which more later as that needs removing as the claims on it were revealed in
1882 by Alcock to be wrong as Sunderland AFC were formed in 1880 and not
1879.
Who was Charles William
Alcock?
The King of Football
Walter James Franks
Chairman of Crystal Palace Football Club 24 February 1872
Alcock was born in Sunderland on 2 December 1842. He was the
second son of the elder Charles Alcock, a ship builder and owner, and his wife
Elizabeth.
Educated in Harrow between 1853 and 1859 he had moved to
Chingford, Essex by the time he left school and also helped form the Forest
Football Club that later became The Wanderers that went on to win the FA Cup on
five occasions before going out of business when professionalism swept aside
the amateur game in the 1880s.
Alcock was predominantly a Wanderers player, for whom he
made at least 198 appearances in 15 seasons.
He was captain of the Wanderers in the first FA Cup final at the Oval on
16 March 1872. The Wanderers beat the
favourites, the Royal Engineers, 1-0. He also played for Forest Club, Upton
Park, Harrow Pilgrims, Harrow Chequers, and Old Harrovians, as well as Crystal
Palace.[1] He
appeared at county level for Middlesex and for London in the fixtures against
Sheffield.
One cap: England 2 Scotland
2 on 6 March 1875 - The Surrey cricket ground, The Oval, Kennington, London
Alcock was an England selector and was one of the two
umpires for first two international games against Scotland in 1872 and 1873.
As a referee he
was reputed to be good-natured and indulgent to offenders, and he was the first
president of the Referees Association. ‘A jovial comrade full of football
anecdote’, he also enjoyed athletics and golf, and played cricket for the
Gentlemen of Essex.[2]
In February 1874 he was liaising with Al Spalding, the
baseball player and founder of the Spalding sports company, regarding the
Boston Red Stockings and the Philadelphia Athletics summer baseball tour (see
Chapter 7).[3] On
28 February 1874 it was planned that his American guests would go the Oval to
see him play football for the Old Harrovians against the Old Etonians. The Old Harrovians lost 0-3 and Alcock had to
leave the field due to an injury.[4]
The injury was serious and prevented him making his international debut until
the following season.[5]
His only international appearance was in the fourth England
fixture against Scotland in 1875. Alcock
captained the side and as FA secretary had a say in the team’s selection.
England went 2-1 ahead in the 65th minute, Alcock scoring from a
Pelham von Donop corner. Peter Andrews of Glasgow Eastern FC equalised 10
minutes later.
Most significantly in terms of football history Alcock was
the secretary of the FA from 1870 to 1895. He had been a committee member since
1866. Not only did he propose the first international games against Scotland he
also suggested to the FA committee on 20 July 1871 “that it is desirable that a Challenge Cup should be established in
connection with the Association, for which all clubs belonging to the
Association should be invited to compete.” He was pushing at an open door
and the famous FA Cup competition started in the autumn of 1871.
He is also credited as having managed football’s transition
in the 1880s from the amateur into the professional era and its successful
avoidance of the split that occurred in rugby.[6]
In 1885 he said that “I object to the
argument that it is immoral to work for a living, and I cannot see why men
should not, with that object, labour at football as at cricket.” His
feet were firmly planted in both the football and cricket camps given his
involvement as secretary of Surrey from 1872 to 1892.
When in 1888 a professional football league was proposed—almost
the only major innovation of the time that was not of his devising—Alcock
proved agreeable, his journalistic instinct for the commercial spectacle
overcoming his residual amateur scruples. It was thus that the distinctive and
durable dual structure of English football was born.[7]
The Football League, was formed in
1888 by twelve clubs, Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Two years later,
Stoke became the first side to be voted out of the League in favour of
Sunderland AFC who along with Villa went on to dominate the 1890s.
Alcock organised the first cricket Test match in England
against the Australians at the Oval in 1880. He also captain France against
Germany in Hamburg.[8]
In 1882 Alcock recorded the SAFC founding date as 1880
As a sports journalist Alcock wrote for The Field and The Sportsman.
He was responsible for a series of Football Annuals between 1868 and 1885,
which, amongst other things recorded the establishment of new clubs.
First listed in the 1882 Annual, Sunderland AFC are recorded
as founded as 1880. Of course, for those in the know we understand that there
exists, unlike Rugby Football, no records of Association Football being played
in Sunderland before September 1880 and the formation meeting date of the club
of Saturday 25 September 1880 was recorded in the Sunderland Echo two days
later. Clearly Alcock knew what he was reporting on.
As such the other Norfolk Street football plaque, which is
currently hidden by scaffolding on a run-down building contains, like the one
at the Blue House Field, inaccurate information on 1879.
Alcock was also the author of other books on football,
including Football Our Winter Game
(1874), The Association Game (1890)
and The Book of Football (1906). He
wrote Surrey Cricket Its History and Associations (1904)
with Lord Alverstone and helped found the Football and Cricket magazines.[9]
With many thanks to Stuart Hibberd - author of the first Crystal Palace Football
Club 1861 – 1876 - for his assistance with this article.
[1] The Wanderers F.C. “Five times F. A.
Cup winners” p62 Rob Cavallini and The Early F.A. Cup Finals and the Southern
Amateurs Keith Warsop p56
[2] Richard Holt, ‘Alcock, Charles
William (1842–1907)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford
University Press, 2004
[http://0-www.oxforddnb.com.catalogue.wellcomelibrary.org/view/article/39536,
accessed 22 Feb 2016]
[3] See postscript to letter of 24
February 1874 from Al Spalding to Harry Wright at Robert Edward Auctions
website http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/auction/2004/123.html accessed 23 April 2016
[4] Bell’s Life & Sporting Chronicle
7 March 1874 p4
[5]
100 Years of the FA Cup Tony Pawson p8
[6] sportinglandmarks.co.uk
website http://sportinglandmarks.co.uk/?p=374
accessed 22 February 2017
[7] Richard Holt, ‘Alcock, Charles
William (1842–1907)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford
University Press, 2004
[http://0-www.oxforddnb.com.catalogue.wellcomelibrary.org/view/article/39536 accessed 22
Feb 2016]
[8] Richard
Holt, ‘Alcock, Charles William (1842–1907)’, Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
[http://0-www.oxforddnb.com.catalogue.wellcomelibrary.org/view/article/39536,
accessed 22 February 2016
[9] The Wanderers F.C. “Five Times FA
Cup winners” Rob Cavallini p145 and West Norwood Cemetery’s Sportsmen Bob
Flanagan p23
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