William Pickford-Free Britons have queer ways of enjoying themselves

William Pickford was 17 years old when he watched an Association game between  Blackburn District and Bolton. Formerly a Rugby enthusiast he was captivated by the Asociation game. having relocated from Lancashire to Hampshire he was active in local football administration and also wrote on the  game for the local press. 
Mr Pickford took to refereeing when his playing days with Bournemouth Rovers came to an end.
He was one of the 79 attendees of the March 1893 meeting at which The FA formed the first referees’ society. C.W. Alcock was President and F.J Wall Chairman.
In 1895 the society produced the first edition of The Referees’ Chart, a set of guidelines that elabourated on The Laws of the Game.
Mr Pickford played a leading role in the production of this document.
He held several prominent positions in football; 
He was member of the council of the Football Association, a Vice-President of FIFA and a member of the International Football Association Board. In 1937 he  became president of the Football Association.
How to Referee appeared in 1906. It comnbines an analydis of the Laws of the Game with an outline of the psychological challenges of match control. 
Free Britons have queer ways of enjoying themselves is taken from Mr Pickford's comment advising referees not to be perturbed by the passionate noise of the crowd.

Robert Cunliffe Gosling

The best-looking man of my acquaintance - C.B Fry 
The most aristocratic-looking man I ever saw - J.A.H Catton
The richest man who ever played football for England - Sir Frederick Wall

Cunliffe Gosling was an inside forward who  played in 5 matches for England (1892-97) and never finished on the losing side. He represented Cambridge University, Old Etonians and Corinthian FC. 
Gosling confirmed the archetype that in Victorian England  those from a privileged background were more robustly built- he was 1.87m and 83 kg.
Sir Frederick Wall's statement was based on the fact that Gosling came from a wealthy landed family, and that when he died in 1922 his estate was worth the equivalent of £21.2 million in today's money. 

An Appeal To Good Sportsmen

There was a perception during the early days of the 1914-18 war that footballers (or football, as in the institution of the game) was failing in its patriotic duty. This arose from the failure of the Football League to suspend play at the outset of hostilities. Rugby Union footballers were seen to be flocking to the colours as one. 

Footballers did, of course, make proportionate sacrifices. Fatalities included Leigh Richmond Roose (Wales and numerous clubs- notably Stoke and Sunderland), Walter Tull (Northampton Town, Tottenham Hotspur), Bradford City's  Bob Torrance, Jimmy Speirs, Evelyn Lintott, James Conlin, James Comrie and  Gerald Kirk. George 'Gattling Gun' Hilsden (Chelsea, West Ham United and England) was incapacitated by a mustard gas attack having rather ignominiously tried to avoid the call up- he was arrested having hidden in a shed.

Soccer's Greatest Players

Sir Frederick Wall, writing in 1935, identified the following four players under the chapter heading Soccer's Greatest Players. The accolade is great indeed if you place it in the context of Sir Frederick's lifelong connection with football and the fact he would have seen most if not all of the FA Cup Finals and the majority of the England v Scotland internationals in his capacity as  Secretary of the Football Association from 1895 to 1934.

Alex James 

Sir Frederick was a director at Highbury , and he placed Alex James above all the other players he had seen during his long involvement with the association  game. James was a playmaker- a  withdrawn inside forward who orchestrated the play for Herbert Chapman's Arsenal. James gained a paltry 8 Scotland caps, due largely to Preston North End's reluctance to release him for international duty during the 4 rather fractious seasons he spent there.  

Alan Morton

A dazzling outside left, Morton's success was built on balance, the exploitation of limited space and mesmeric ball control. 

 For Rangers he played 495 games and scored 115 goals, winning 9 league championships and a Scottish cup. He made 31 international appearances for Scotland.  

Bobby Templeton

Something of a peripatetic career for the outside right who was capped 11 times by Scotland. He played top level football for 17 years and in that time represented 6 clubs in 7 spells (Aston Villa, Newcastle United, Woolwich Arsenal,Celtic, Kilmarnock (2 spells) and Fulham.).

Sir Fredrick Wall's prose was more modest than that of William Pickford, who wrote:

Templeton is afflicted with a large measure of the eccentricity of genius. He is a man of moods. When "the afflatus" is upon him he is a winged horse to whom a spur is useless, and whom a curb cannot hold. It is then that the watching multitude is aflame with mingled surprise and admiration - surprise at the wondrous versatility of the man, admiration at the grace and beauty of his movements.

 Association Football and the Men Who Made It (1905)

Billy Meredith

Sir Frederick was clearly an admirer of wing play. The Welsh Wizard (who once told journalist James Catton that he wished he'd been born English)  played over 300 games for each of the Manchester clubs, and also managed 48 appearances for Wales in a 25 year international career. He was a professional for 34 years.