1892–93 in English football: Difference between revisions

[[England national football team|England]]'s opening international game of the season took place in Birmingham on 25 February against [[Ireland national football team (IFA)|Ireland]], with the selectors choosing a team consisting mainly of players with connections to [[Corinthian F.C.|the Corinthians]], of which seven were making their England débuts. [[Chris Charsley]] of [[Birmingham City F.C.|Small Heath]], who later went on to be [[Chief Constable]] of [[Coventry]], made his solitary England appearance in goal. [[Alban Harrison]] ([[Old Westminsters F.C.|Old Westminsters]]) and [[Fred Pelly]] ([[Old Foresters F.C.|Old Foresters]]) made their débuts as the two [[Fullback (association football)#Full_back|full-backs]] and [[Norman Cooper]] ([[Cambridge University A.F.C.|Cambridge University]]) made his solitary appearance at centre-half. [[Robert Topham]], an amateur player with [[Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.|Wolverhampton Wanderers]], who had previously declined an invitation to play for [[Wales national football team|Wales]] following his selection in 1885, made the first of his two appearances at outside right, with [[Walter Gilliat]] of [[Old Carthusians F.C.|Old Carthusians]] making his solitary appearance at inside right. Gilliat, an excellent dribbler of the ball, would probably have made more England appearances but for his religious beliefs, and went on to become the [[vicar]] of [[Iver]] and the [[Rector#Anglican_churchesAnglican_Churches|rector]] of [[Sevenoaks]].

England totally dominated the match itself with [[Walter Gilliat]] scoring three times in the first 30 minutes, although Ireland had levelled the scores shortly after England's first goal. Further goals from [[G.O. Smith]], [[William Winckworth]] and [[Rupert Sandilands]] enabled England to run out convincing 6-1 victors. Gilliat thus became one of only five players to have scored a [[Hat-trick#Football (Soccer)|hat-trick]] in his only appearance in an England shirt.

Note - the official attendance for this match was 16,000; the crowd was so large that it was forced to stand in front of the journalists who were therefore prevented from seeing all of the action. Consequently, there is some dispute over the goal-scorers and several sources claim that [[Fred Spiksley]] actually scored a [[Hat-trick#Football (Soccer)|hat-trick]], although this is not credited in any of the official references.