Chirk AAA v Darwen

Cricket and Football Field 29.01.87

This article tells us so much about the state of football in 1880s. Professionalism was legal, organized competition in the form of the FA Cup and the county cups had firmly taken root in the public imagination. The provinces, particularly the north west and the midlands, had a thriving football culture and there was a railway network that facilitated affordable travel for teams and their supporters. 

Darwen travel to Chirk in north east Wales for an FA Cup tie.

Darwen feature the old English internationals Marsden and Rostron, while in goal they have Hugh Mcintyre, formerly of Blackburn Rovers and Glasgow Rangers.  A versatile player indeed, he had represented Scotland at centre half, moving back into goal as his age increased (he was 31).

GK	McIntyre
FB	Marsden
	Leach
HB	Hamilton
	Ashton
	Thornber
F	Haresnape
	Broughton
	Rostron
	Shorrock
	Slater

Chirk was a village but they boasted 4 internationals in their line up : William Owen,  Di Jones (later of Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City),  George Owen (later of Newton Heath) and  George Griffiths. In  April 1887 this same XI won the Welsh Cup for the first time, and  retained it the following season.

GK	E Povey
FB	T Wynne
	Di Jones
HB	H Owen
	J Owen
	J Jones
F	P Griffiths
	W Owen
	T Williams
	G Owen
	G Griffiths

That Ruabon people had travelled  the five miles south to support Darwen against their local rivals (an exclusively Welsh team) is a delightful detail.  

FA Cup Final, 1889

Here is a programme for the 1889 FA Cup Final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Preston North End's Invincibles (the Cup version, with Mills- Roberts in the place of Trainer).
Major Marindin would undoubtedly have been rooting for Wolves' English XI (including 7 internationals).  Wolves had finished 3rd in the League,  conceding 9 goals across the 2 meetings with Preston.
Dewhurst, Ross and Thomson were the scorers as Preston won 3-0 to secure the Double. 

England: Clubs with most internationals 1872-1937

Up to the summer of 1937 England played 211 international matches featuring 639 players.

The leading clubs in terms of providing England internationals were:

	Players	Caps
Aston Villa	40	161
Blackburn Rovers	33	136
Everton	29	101
The Wednesday/ Sheffield Wednesday	28	137
Sheffield United	27	72
West Bromwich Albion	24	85
Derby County	23	129

Arthur Digger Brown

Howard Vaughton

Brown and Vaughton both made their international debuts in the 13-0 win over Ireland on February 18th 1882. Brown scored 4 and Vaughton 5.

Billy Walker

Here are the Aston Villa players who represented England during this period.
It's worth noting that John Reynolds also represented Ireland. Andrew Ducat also represented England at cricket.

	Year (s)	Caps
·         Arthur Brown	1882	3
·         Howard Vaughton	1882-84	5
·         Oliver Whateley	1883	2
·         Dennis Hodgetts	1888-94	6
·         Albert Allen	1888	1
·         Charles Athersmith	1892-1900	12
·         John Devey	1892-94	2
·         John Reynolds	1894-97	5
·         Stephen Smith	1895	1
·         James Crabtree	1896-1902	11
·         George Wheldon	1897-98	4
·         Howard Spencer	1897-1905	6
·         Albert Wilkes	1901-02	5
·         William George	1902	3
·         William Garratty	1903	1
·         Joseph Bache	1903-11	7
·         William Brawn	1904	2
·         Alec Leake	1904-05	5
·         Albert Hall	1910	1
·         Harry Hampton	1913-14	4
·         Charles Wallace	1913-20	3
·         Sam Hardy	1913-20	7
·         Frank Barson	1920	1
·         Andrew Ducat	1920	3
·         Billy Walker	1920-32	18
·         Thomas Smart	1921-29	5
·         Billy Kirton	1921	1
·         Frank A Moss	1921-24	5
·         Richard York	1922-26	2
·         Thomas Mort	1924-26	3
·         George Blackburn	1924	1
·         Arthur Dorrell	1924-25	4
·         Benjamin Olney	1928	2
·         Eric Houghton	1930-32	7
·         Joe Tate	1931-32	3
·         Pongo Waring	1931-32	5
·         George Brown	1932	1
·         Joseph Beresford	1934	1
·         Thomas Gardner	1934-35	2
·         Ronald Starling	1937	1