A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



FOOTBALL 



Association. Middlesex has taken a leading 

 part in placing the Association game, the 

 Rugby game and more recently the Amateur 

 Football Association on a constitutional basis. 

 It was in and around London that men first 

 went on playing the various forms of football 

 that they had learnt at school. As nearly 

 every school possessed rules peculiar to it- 

 self, varying either to suit its playing area 

 or handed down by tradition, it will easily be 

 understood that the enjoyment of the game was 

 greatly hindered by this lack of uniformity. 

 In 1863 the late Mr. C. W. Alcock and 

 other pioneers of the game of football made 

 strenuous efforts to induce all players to unite 

 under one code. To this end Mr. Alcock 

 and those who played the dribbling, or what 

 is now known as the Association, game were 

 prepared to make certain concessions to those 

 who followed the Rugby or running code. 



The first meeting for the purpose was held 

 at the Freemasons' Tavern, 26 October 1863 

 when the Football Association was formed. 

 The clubs represented were the War Office 

 F. C., the Crusaders, the Forest, Crystal Pal- 

 ace, Kilburn, Barnes and the Rugby clubs of 

 Kensington School, Surbiton, Blackheath, and 

 Percival House. Mr. Arthur Kimber of the 

 Kilburn N.N.'s was elected the first president, 

 Mr. Morley, honorary secretary, and Mr. G. 

 Campbell of Blackheath, treasurer. A further 

 meeting was held on 10 November, when the 

 secretary was empowered to draft an amalga- 

 mated code of rules taken from those in vogue 

 at Eton, Westminster, Harrow, Charterhouse, 

 Rugby and Winchester. When the amalga- 

 mated code was presented at a subsequent meet- 

 ing on I December concessions to the Rugby 

 section were evident, and at one time it ap- 

 peared not improbable that the new code would 

 be acceptable to both sections of players. 

 Hacking, then a cherished feature of the Rugby 

 game had, however, been eliminated. The de- 

 sirability of its retention was vigorously main- 

 tained by Mr. Campbell, but his arguments were 

 in vain, and in consequence he and themembers 

 of the Rugby clubs decided not to join the 

 Association. From that day to this the two 

 great divisions of the game Association and 

 Rugby have remained distinct. The growth 

 of the Association was not at first rapid. 

 By 1868 only twenty clubs, most of which 

 belonged to Middlesex, owned allegiance to it. 



In 1867 county football was introduced for 

 the first time when Middlesex on 2 November 

 played a combined team of Kent and Surrey. 



The game was keenly contested and resulted 

 in a draw, neither side obtaining a goal. In 

 1870 the late Mr. C. W. Alcock, who did 

 more towards popularizing Association foot- 

 ball than any other man, was elected to the 

 post of secretary, a position he filled for over 

 thirty years. Up to the time of his death in 

 1907 he continued to take an active part in 

 the administration of the game. 



On 20 July 1871 the historic Challenge 

 Cup was instituted and was won by the 

 Wanderers. In early days this team, com- 

 posed mainly of old public school men resident 

 in London, was a dominating influence in 

 Association football. In the first seven years 

 of the Cup's history this club was successful on 

 five occasions. Mr. C. W. Alcock was the 

 organizer and leading spirit of the Wanderers 

 until, on the formation in London of numerous 

 clubs of old public school men, such as the 

 Old Carthusians, the Old Etonians, and the 

 Old Harrovians, the team was disbanded. 



Other London clubs that held the trophy 

 were the Old Etonians (twice) and the Old 

 Carthusians, while the Clapham Rovers, which 

 contained a fair proportion of Middlesex men, 

 won it in 1880. Since the legalization of pro- 

 fessionalism all this has been changed, and only 

 once 1 since 1883 has a London club held it 

 or been in the final. In 1883 that famous 

 amateur club, the Corinthians, was formed. 

 The club, whose head quarters are at Queen's 

 Club in West Kensington, is composed of the 

 pick of amateur players. The Corinthians have 

 never entered for the Association Cup, but 

 have contested hundreds of exciting matches 

 with the leading professional teams. A very 

 popular competition in London among the old 

 boys of the various public schools who play 

 the Association game is the Arthur Dunn Cup. 

 This trophy was instituted in 1903 to 

 perpetuate the memory of the Old Etonian 

 whose name it bears, in his day one of the best 

 type of amateur and an international player of 

 note. The final and many of the ties are 

 decided at Queen's Club. 



The Old Carthusians are the present holders 

 of the cup, a position they have enjoyed every 

 year since the competition's inception, except 

 in 1907 when the Old Reptonians were 

 successful, while in 1903 the Old Salopians 

 held it jointly with them. 



1 This occurred in 1901, when Tottenham Hot- 

 spur, after one drawn game with Sheffield United, 

 subsequently beat the latter. 



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