Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

28 Raikes’ Meteoric Rise as a Top Quality Footballer phenomenon, this imbalance was attributed to the fact that the Scottish sides were composed largely, if not entirely, of players from the highly successful, amateur Queen’s Park club, whose players, being familiar with each other’s play, had an advantage over the English teams, who were selected from a number of clubs spread all over the country. In response to this, Nicholas Lane (‘Pa’) Jackson, Charlie Alcock’s assistant secretary at the FA, had the idea to bring into existence the Corinthians, a ‘super’ club which did not set out to replace the existing teams but which arranged friendly fixtures of a decent quality in which the leading amateurs, whilst remaining with their own clubs, could play together, familiarise themselves with each other’s style of play, and so make themselves more attractive propositions to the selectors (note 4) . Originally, membership was limited to 50 players and there was to be neither entry fee nor subscription; ‘Pa’ naturally took on the role as honorary secretary and, after a somewhat chaotic beginning, he became the coherent guiding force behind the Corinthians. He was professionalism’s deadliest enemy, and he was initially successful, both in that ‘his’ players came to dominate the England team (55 of the 88 caps awarded for matches against Scotland between 1883 and 1890 went to card-carrying Corinthians) and that their presence did lead to better results against the Scots for a while (note 5) . Alas for Jackson, he was only ever continuing that rearguard action and increasing numbers of talented professionals forced their way past the Corinthians into the England squad on merit – the last ‘throw of the dice’ appears to have been in 1894 and 1895 when the England selectors for the Home Internationals opted not only to choose sides composed entirely of Corinthians to play against Wales but also elevens made up entirely of professionals to oppose Ireland. In 1894, the amateurs did well, winning 5-1, but, unfortunately for ‘Pa’, the all-amateur outfit did not cover itself with glory the next year, failing even to win against the humble Welsh opposition and being outshone by the professionals. The correspondent of the Norfolk Chronicle reported that: “I do not think many of [the amateurs] will be chosen for the match of the season, England against Scotland.” By this stage the phenomenon of the “trial match” had become established and those amateur footballers who aspired to international honours were obliged to earn their places on merit, going head-to-head with the professional talent in front of the selectors. Only two Corinthians managed to secure a place to appear against the Scottish that year and, whilst Corinthians did not disappear immediately from the international scene (note 6) , ‘Pa’ did, resigning from the FA in 1897. Something of his exceedingly patronising attitude towards professionals lingered on in the behaviour of Charles Wreford-Brown when he skippered England against Scotland in 1898; when two of his professional team-mates scored ‘points’ he handed them golden sovereigns on the spot. A third point saw a third sovereign brought forth but caused him to comment: “If you keep this up … I shall have to go for my handbag!” Perhaps the last Corinthian to have a lengthy international career strictly on merit was G.O.Smith of Charterhouse and Oxford, who crops up again in chapter five. Thought of as the greatest centre-forward of his age, and certainly the most accomplished amateur, despite a relatively frail physique he scored 132