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C. W. Alcock

Charles William Alcock (December 2, 1842 – February 26, 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.

Early life and career

Born in Sunderland, his family moved south at an early age. Educated at Harrow School, Alcock was a keen schoolboy footballer, and formed the Forest club with his elder brother, John, 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. As a player, Alcock was renowned as a hard-working centre-forward with an accurate shot. On March 6 1875, he captained England against Scotland, scoring a goal in a 2-2 draw. The match proved to be his only international game.

Football

On July 20 1871, Alcock, in his position as FA Secretary, proposed 'That it is desirable that a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the Association, for which all clubs belonging to the Association should be invited to compete'. Thus, the FA Cup - the world's first national football tournament, based on Alcock's experience of inter-house 'sudden death' competition at Harrow - was born. Fifteen teams took part in the first competition in 1872, with Alcock fittingly captaining the winning Wanderers side. It was only fitting that the final should be played at The Oval, since Alcock had become Secretary of Surrey CCC the previous month.

It was then Alcock's idea that led to the statement, 'In order to further the interests of the Association in Scotland, it was decided that during the current season, a team should be sent to Glasgow to play a match v Scotland' in the FA's minutes of October 3 1872. The world's first international match took place between England and Scotland on November 30 1872, with Alcock ruled out of the England side which drew 0-0 at the West of Scotland Cricket Ground in Partick through injury. Instead he represented his country as umpire, with the England captaincy awarded to Cuthbert Ottaway.

After joining the FA committee in 1866, Alcock served as FA Secretary from 1870 to 1895, before serving as Honorary Treasurer and Vice President. Alcock also refereed the 1875 and 1879 FA Cup Finals, and was the journalist responsible for compiling the first "Football Annual" in 1868.

Alcock was the first to use the term "combination game" to describe the predecessor of the modern passing football game in 1874: "Nothing succeeds better than what I may call a 'combination game'"^†

Cricket

In cricket, Alcock captained Middlesex in the first county match in 1867, before playing for Essex. He played only one first-class fixture, for MCC, in 1862 (Essex was not yet a first-class county).

Between 1872 and 1907, Alcock served as secretary of Surrey. Repeating his interest in sporting internationals, he arranged the first cricket Test Match to be played in England, England against Australia at the Kennington Oval in 1880. He also edited the Cricket newspaper for almost a quarter of a century, and edited James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Annual from 1872 to 1900.

Charles Alcock is buried in West Norwood Cemetery in South London SE27.

References

Print

^†Alcock, Charles. Football: our winter game. 1874. ISBN
Booth, Keith. The Father of Modern Sport: The Life and Times of Charles W. Alcock, Parrs Wood Press. 2002. ISBN 1-903158-34-6