World Team of the decade - 1890s

Just a bit of fun to stimulate some debate. I'm going to select a team for every decade from the 1880s to the 1930s. The inspiration? In November 1905 The Daily Mail chose a World XI to challenge another planet at football.
Please note that I have limited each player to one decade only, hence the absence of greats such as  Needham (1900s) , Bassett (1880s) from this selection. 

The 1890s was the decade of the great professional clubs and the growth of  league football. England and  Scotland were still the dominant forces in the World game.

	Player	Team	Country
GK	Ned Doig	Sunderland	Scotland
Jack Robinson the England goalkeeper also developed the skills associated with modern  goalkeeping.
RB	Nicol Smith	Rangers	Scotland
Smith, a strong brave player with an accurate pass, was an early example of an attacking fullback who liked to get forward. He won 5 league titles and 3 Scottish cups with Rangers.
LB	William John Oakley	Corinthian FC	England
An amateur who made 16 international appearances.
RH	Jack Reynolds	Aston Villa/ West Bromwich Albion	Ireland/England
Jack Reynolds was capped by both  England and Ireland. His contemporaries describe him as being remarkably skillful, fast, a good header of the ball and a formidable defender.
CH	Johnny Holt	Everton	England
For a small man to occupy the role of centre half, the pivotal player in the team, required very high levels of skill.
LH	Jimmy  Crabtree	Aston Villa	England
One of England's greatest players. Shone in any position. Great as a half-back, but greater, possibly, as a back, kicking cleanly and with rare precision. A keen, skilful tackler, clever at close quarters and equally reliable in the open; cool, resourceful, and brainy. Excelled in the finer points of the game, and one of the most versatile players England has boasted. For many seasons unrivalled in his position. The Villa News and Record  September 1906
OR	Charlie Athersmith	Aston Villa	England
The speediest forward in England is said to be Athersmith, of Aston Villa, one of the most dangerous men to tackle...he is one of the very best forwards at outside-right. His speed often gets him through where a slower man would have but little chance. Ernest Needham, Association Football (1901)
IR	Steve Bloomer	Derby County	England
A legendary goal machine who would challenge for a place in a selection from the entire history of the game.
CF	Johnny Campbell	Sunderland	Scotland
Popular opinion dictates that GO Smith was the finest centre forward of the era, but Campbell’s phenomenal goalscoring in the League cannot be overlooked. Johnny Campbell of Celtic, Aston Villa and Scotland is also worthy of mention.
IL	'Diamond' Freddy Wheldon	Aston Villa	England
When at his best, he was undoubtedly the finest inside left forward England possessed. His command of the ball, his adaptability to prevailing conditions, combined with his dodging, his swerving, and his deadly shooting, made him a great player in the highest company. Brilliant with head and foot alike, he has always been an ornament to the game.  The Villa News and Record  September 1906
OL	Fred Spiksley	The Wednesday	England
A skilful player, technically adept, relying on close control.

Alternative selections are welcomed!

Wreford-Brown, soccer and generosity

The word 'soccer' is loaded with connotations. Like most British football lovers I don't like the word. It's hardly used now in the British media. It seems to me that in the 1960s and 70s it was far more prominent; soccer was about the black and white  truncated icosahedron balls and skimpy satin shorts- football spoke of a classier, more substantial brand of the game, although at least one of the 'quality' papers was using the term quite recently and no less a man than Brian Glanville frequently refers to the game as soccer. Of course, Welsh readers will remember the dreadful Soccer Sunday in the 1990s (maybe it still exists). I was always perplexed as a small boy when I heard Rugby players referred to as footballers. In the internet age  we have to sometimes use 'soccer' in order to avoid being swamped by references to the dreadful American game. 
There is , I must admit, something curiously pleasing about the term 'soccer ball', but aside from that I have no real use for the word.
We will never know whether or not Charles Wreford-Brown actually coined the word  soccer (an abbreviation of association) as an extension of the Charterhouse argot.
Wreford -Brown, who played for Old Carthusians and Corinthian FC won 4 England caps over a 9 year period, captaining the side on 2 occasions. He played his last game for Corinth at the age of 44 on a tour of Canada.
Wreford -Brown obviously didn't share the prejudices of some of his class when it came to professionalism!
In England's 1898 game with Scotland at Celtic Park the 31 year old Wreford-Brown was captaining the side. In the 3rd minute Aston Villa's Diamond Freddy Wheldon put England ahead. Wreford -Brown ran over to congratulate him and in shaking his hand passed him a sovereign (worth about £100 in today's terms).
20 minutes later the great Steven Bloomer doubled England's lead and found himself the recipient of another such gift, retrieved by his captain, he recalled, from the deep pockets of his knees length shorts (the style favoured by Corinthians players).  Bloomer handed the sovereign to referee Mr Robertson for safekeeping. 
 When Bloomer added the 3rd goal in the 73rd minute his captain's act of generosity was repeated. Mr Robertson, again entrusted with the coin , advised Bloomer that if he carried on scoring that he'd have to get a purse. 
Bloomer was quite well off and a noted collector of memorabilia (J.A.H Catton  recalls how varnished balls hung from the ceiling of his parlour) and he kept the sovereigns as a memento. 
The sovereigns were gold coins worth £1. The average player was on about £3 a week in the late 1890s, The average working man about £1 a week. 



Wheldon

Bloomer