Alfred Joseph Baker

Alfred Joseph Baker (10 February 1846 – 3 January 1900) was an English amateur sportsman who scored England's goal in the first representative match against a Scottish XI in March 1870. By profession, he was an auctioneer.

He was born in Willesden, London, the son of Henry Baker and Margaret Puddicombe. On his baptism record, his father's occupation was given as "auctioneer".

He married Marion Ellen Sayers on 16 September 1871. They had several children, including:

Baker was a champion athlete who won the 100-yard dash at the 1870 AAA Championships; his achievement "raised himself to the first rank of sprint runners". In 1894, he was described as "probably the fastest Londoner over the distance until quite recent times"; his style was described as "a sprinter pure and simple (who) 'ran low', in what is to our mind the best and most workmanlike sprinting style, with his body bent well forward".

Baker was a member of the N.N. Club of Kilburn; in January 1867, he was selected to represent Kent in a match against Surrey, which finished 0–0. He also played for Middlesex against Both Surrey and Kent later that year and was a member of the Football Association committee in 1872.

In March 1870, he was one of only two players not from a public school background (the other being Alexander Nash) selected to represent England against a Scottish side in the first of a series of matches between the two countries organised by C. W. Alcock and Arthur Kinnaird. The match was played at the Oval on 5 March; the Scots scored first when Robert Crawford lobbed the ball into an open goal. With a minute left to play, Baker made a "brilliant run" which "effected the surrender of the Scottish goal" and the game ended in a draw. Baker's run was described in the Sporting Gazette'" as "one of the finest runs that have ever been witnessed".

...
Wikipedia