🏴 The story of two of England’s oldest clubs merging to form one club, one that still plays in the amateur league to this day, contesting in a well renowned international tournament as well. But, before I tell the story of how that came about, lets look at the clubs’ origins, and the two clubs that gave birth to Corintihan-Casuals FC. They are, Corinthians FC and Casuals FC
Corinthians FC were founded on 28th September 1882 and were based in London. They are most famous for being the club to spread the game of football worldwide, but also famed for their outstanding commitment to sportsmanship, an ethos that still lives on within the club in its modern-day form as Corinthians Casuals. This was summed up with the club known to have a unique outlook on penalties. With their belief that no sportsperson would intentionally foul an opposition player in their own box, the club decided they would let the club score the resulting penalty, without contest. What does this mean? Well, the goalkeeper would simply stand at one of his goalposts and let the opposition player kick the ball into the net. Alternatively, if Corinthians were awarded a penalty, the captain of the side would kick the ball over the bar, missing intentionally. But that’s not their only claim to fame. It is said that Spanish giants, Real Madrid were influenced by the amateur side to don the white jerseys that have made so famous in todays football world. Corinthians have also influenced the names of Brazilian club Corinthians Paulista and Maltese club, Zejtun Corinthians. Such influence from a small, amateur club from London is something that many would think was somewhat made up, but it is not. But the amazing feats of this amateur club didn’t stop there.
The club would become centre to the international scene, with most its players playing in the England international side. In fact, in two matches against Wales in 1894 and in 1895 they whole England squad consisted of just Corinthians players, something that had never happened before, and has never happened since. It happened at the British Home Championships on March 12th, 1894, when England beat Wales at the Racecourse Ground, in Wrexham, 5-1. That day two Corinthians players did score, with John Gould Veitch Jr. scoring a hat-trick. It would be his only England appearance, and one he would never forget. The other Corinthians player to score on that day was a man named Robert Cunliffe Gosling. The Welsh had taken the lead in the game, but the English proved to be far too strong for them in the end. That wasn’t the case in their next encounter, which took place on March 18th, 1895. Once again it was in the British Home Championships, and this time England were at home, playing at the Queens Club, which is known for it’s tennis matches rather than it’s football participation. The game was watched by 15,000 spectators, and once again the English side was solely made up of Corinthians players. But I was Wales who took the lead in the 94th minute, from Billy Lewis, a Chester City player at the time, and still (Although debatable) is Chester City’s most capped international to date, with 13 caps for Wales. I say debatable, because Chester did have another player, Angus Eve, who made 35 caps for Trinidad and Tobago while playing for the club, however, he was only on loan. (You can decide on that one). The game ended 1-1 as Corinthians man, Rupert Renorden Sandilands, scored an equaliser in the 74th minute. To this day, no English team has been solely made up of players from one club, and I doubt it will ever happen again.
It was in the club’s early constitution that they should not compete in any cup competition or any challenge for any prize of any description, meaning they mainly played friendly matches. However, there was an exception made when they competed in the Sheriff of London Charity Shield, in which they competed in a total of nice times between the years 1898 to 1907. The club won the competition three times, which is now more commonly known as the FA Charity Shield.
It is often said that Corinthians FC, had they played in more competitions in this era, they would won a lot more silverware. People often point out their demolition of Blackburn Rovers in 1889, when they beat the Lancashire side, 8-1. Blackburn Rovers had won the FA Cup in 1884 and were seen as one of the countries top sides. Corinthians were seen as the only amateur team that could take on the best. Another stand-out result was that of when they beat current FA Cup winners, Bury FC in the Sheriff of London Charity shield, 10-3. This sounds even more impressive when you see that Bury had thrashed Derby Couty, 6-0 in that FA Cup final in 1903. It wouldn’t be long until the amateur side did compete in the FA Cup themselves and did so, starting in the 1922-23 season, never winning it. They also competed in the FA Chrity shield in which they lost out to Cardiff City, the current FA Cup winners, 2-1 at a game played at Stamford Bridge.
In the end, the cub felt it was for the better, to merge with Casuals FC in 1939, but Corinthians FC themselves left a legacy behind them, with famous faces having put on their jersey as well. Amongst those were, Andrew Watson, the first black player to ever play Association football at International level and former Hollywood actor, Charles Aubrey Smith, who was also a cricketer and made one solidary cap for England in that sport. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Now, it’s time to tell the story of Casuals FC. The club was founded 1883, made up of players from Eton School, Westminster School and Chaterhouse School, however this was expanded to all universities and other public schools. The club were a popular one, and it had plenty of players and matches, playing up to five matches a week, fielding five different teams in each game.
In 1890, for the FA Cup, the club merged with Old Carthusians, a club who themselves had won the FA Cup in 1881, however, they were knocked out in the first round by eventual finalists, Wolverhampton Wanderers, losing 4-3.
Casuals FC were founding members of the Isthmian League in 1905 but left to join the Southern Amateur League. They stayed in that league for six seasons, between 1907-1913, before returning to the Isthmian League. In 1936, the club won the FA Amateur Cup, adding to their 6 London Charity Cup wins, (1891,1894,1897,1901,1904,1905).
It was January 4th, 1939, when the club held a meeting with Corinthians about a possible merger of the two clubs. The merger happened, and the new club formed was known as Corinthians-Casuals. The club remains active to this day, playing in the Isthmian League.
Casuals, like Corinthians, had several players represent England, who also wore the Casual’s jersey. Five in total, got the call up, with four of them receiving just one cap, whilst Fred Ewer, picked up two caps. The other four were Richard Raine Barker, Bernand Joy, Arthur Topham and Robert Topham.
As mentioned, the club continue to play as Corinthians-Casuals in the lower leagues of England, but one had to wonder, if they decided to split, would either club survive or be able to climb the league’s? Or will they do it together in the next few years. Corinthians-Casuals in the Football League with be a brilliant addition.