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.  

Wales' Record Score

Only 2000 people were at The Racecourse on 03.03.88 to witness Wales registering an 11-0 win over Ireland. Wales had lost their opening match against England 5-1 and the following week would go down by the same score against Scotland. Things didn't get much better for Ireland- they lost 10-2 against Scotland, making their 5-1 defeat at the hands of England relatively creditable.
The scorers for Wales were Jack Doughty (4) Roger Doughty (2) Edmund Howell (2) Job Wilding (2) and William Pryce-Jones

The Wales team, pictured above: standing l-r: Reuben Humphreys (Ruabon Druids); Joe Davies (Newton Heath); Dr. Alfred O. Davies (Swifts); Dr. Bob Mills-Roberts (Preston North End); Jack  Powell (Newton Heath); Di Jones (Chirk AAA); seated l-r: William Pryce-Jones (Cambridge University); Job Wilding (Bootle); Jack Doughty (Newton Heath); Roger Doughty (Newton Heath); Edmund Gwynne Howell (Builth).

 Alfred O. Davies, William Pryce-Jones and E. Gwynne Howell left the field early in order to catch a train with Wales 10-0 up.

Ireland's unfortunate goalkeeper was Cliftonville debutant Jack Clugston. He was omitted for the rest of the season but came back the following year. In total he played 14 internationals, shipping 69 goals.