Charles William Alcock
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Charles William Alcock | ||
| Date of birth | 2 December 1842 | ||
| Place of birth | Sunderland, England | ||
| Date of death | 26 February 1907 (aged 64) | ||
| Place of death | Brighton, Sussex, England | ||
| Playing position | Centre forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1862–1876 | Wanderers | ||
| Harrow Pilgrims | |||
| National team | |||
| 1870–1875 | England | 5 | (1) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Charles William ″C.W.″ Alcock (2 December 1842 – 26 February 1907) was an influential English sportsman and administrator. He was a major instigator in the development of both international football and cricket, as well as being the creator of the FA Cup.
Alcock was born in Sunderland, and his family moved to Chingford, then part of Essex, at an early age. According to JB Smart, he was born as simply Charles and almost certainly took the middle name William in memory of his younger brother (who died in 1858, aged 11). Educated at Harrow School, Alcock was a keen schoolboy footballer, and formed the Forest club with his elder brother, John, in Chingford in 1859. He was then a prime mover in the 1863 foundation of Forest's more famous successor, Wanderers F.C., who were initially a predominantly Old Harrovian side. For their influence on the game of football the Wanderers were considered as early as 1870 to be the MCC of football. As a player, Alcock was renowned as a hard-working centre-forward with an accurate shot. On 6 March 1875, he captained England against Scotland, scoring a goal in a 2–2 draw.
See also England v Scotland (1870)
Alcock was one of those responsible for the first ever international soccer match (and subsequent early international games) with Scotland. The first two of these took place in 1870, with later matches in 1871 and 1872. After the 1870 games there was resentment in Scotland that their team did not contain more home grown players and some of this fire was aimed at Alcock. Alcock himself was categorical about the international standing of the 1870 games and where he felt responsibility lay for the inclusion of so many England-based players in the Scotland team, writing in the Scotsman newspaper:
"I must join issue with your correspondent in some instances. First, I assert that of whatever the Scotch eleven may have been composed the right to play was open to every Scotchman [Alcock's italics] whether his lines were cast North or South of the Tweed and that if in the face of the invitations publicly given through the columns of leading journals of Scotland the representative eleven consisted chiefly of Anglo-Scotians ... the fault lies on the heads of the players of the north, not on the management who sought the services of all alike impartially. To call the team London Scotchmen contributes nothing. The match was, as announced, to all intents and purposes between England and Scotland".
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