Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

42 Raikes the International ‘Keeper’ Everton will therefore be filled by J.W.Sutcliffe of the Bolton Wanderers. The only amateurs selected were L.V.Lodge and R.C.Gosling.” Jumping to Raikes’ defence, Pastime magazine stated ”Among the amateur candidates for places in last Saturday’s England eleven, few hold a higher place than the Oxford goal-keeper, who during the past season has been universally accepted as the legitimate successor of [Billy] Moon and [Leslie] Gay. Fortunately for England the professional, who on the strength of the unlucky trial match at Nottingham was preferred to him, proved worthy of the honour and did all that could be done to defend his charge with complete success. There are points in which the best amateur goalkeepers compare favourably with the best professionals, whose defence is usually of somewhat too passive a nature; but at the present time the football association is apparently rich in good men of both kinds, and it is a high position to be placed second on the list to so smart a player as Sutcliffe. In the Oxford University and Corinthians matches of the season Raikes has shown that he is very quick between the posts and difficult to beat with the hardest of shots. Using both feet and hands equally well and having a long reach, he is also endowed with judgement and presence of mind in no ordinary degree.” The final act in Raikes’ season was his appointment as assistant honorary secretary of the Oxford University Association Football Club for the next season. As the next year would be his last, his attainment of this office would not lead to him acquiring the honour of skippering the Dark Blues. Approaching the Summit Raikes had a gentle start to the 1895-96 season as the Corinthians entertained the Army at Queen’s Club on 19 October. Leading 6-0 at half- time, the amateurs eventually ran out as 11-1 winners. Oxford also started well and were not beaten until Wolverhampton Wanderers overcame them early in November, but then came a run of successes achieved playing for the gentlemen’s clubs. Raikes obtained revenge over Shrewsbury School for the defeat that the Casuals had suffered in 1892-93 by taking part in two victories, 9-2 and 5-1, the latter being his last game for the Casuals; and performed well for the Corinthians. Freshman, G.C.Vasssall, has been quoted in Weir on the availability of Oxford’s star footballers: “Oxford football was to all intents and purposes, [G.O] Smith, [William] Oakley and Raikes. True we did not see much of them in Oxford in the October term as England needed them and it was necessary that they should play regularly for the Corinthians, but in the next term they appeared in all the Oxford matches, and what a different team the Oxford side was with them to stiffen it and link it together!” (note 6) . It almost goes without saying that Magdalen College beat Keble 2-0 in the final of the Oxford University Inter-Collegiate Cup (note 7) . As winners of the trophy for five consecutive years, Magdalen had been sufficiently ahead of the other colleges that Raikes, who secured his fourth win in the four years in which he was eligible to play, was something of an ‘insurance policy’;