Dual Internationals- Cricket and Association Football

When the football season ended by May 1st and didn't resume until September there was a lot more scope for men to play both sports at the highest level.  A number of England internationals were also first class cricketers. The tradition began in the earliest years of the Association- men like Alcock, the Lyttletons, Cuthbert Ottaway and Monty Betts were top class performers in both sports. The increasing engagement of the proletariat in top level sports saw players such as Jack Devey, Ernest Needham, Harry Daft and William Foulke playing countycricket as well as football, whilst the old Public Schools' tradition was maintained by the likes of G.O Smith and Pinky Burnup.
Between 1872 and 1937 only 10 men represented England at both football and cricket.

Alfred Lyttleton
A forward, Lyttleton was a doyen of the old style of Association Football, all about strength, pluck and individual skill.
Club football:	First class cricket:
Cambridge University, Old Etonians	Cambridge University, Middlesex
International football:	International cricket:
1-1878 v Scotland. 1 goal.	4 tests, 1880-84 v Australia
William Gunn
An amateur footballer (as all were officially pre 1885) and professional cricketer- he gave up soccer to focus on cricket, Famous for his long, one arm hurl throw ins he was, nevertheless an underarm bowler! Outside Left.
Club football:	First class  cricket:
Notts County, Nottingham Forest	Nottinghamshire
International football:	International cricket:
2-1884 v Scotland, Wales. 1 goal.	11 tests, 1887-99 v Australia
Leslie Gay
Corinthian Leslie Gay was a goalkeeper and wicketkeeper.
Club football:	First class cricket:
Old Brightonians,  Cambridge University, Corinthian	Cambridge University, Hampshire, Somerset
International football:	International cricket:
3- 1893-94	1 test on the 1894-95 tour of Australia
R.E. Foster
The only man to have captained England at cricket and football. Played at inside forward.
Club football:	First class  cricket:
Oxford University , Old Malvernians , Corinthian	Oxford University , Worcestershire
International football:	International cricket:
5-1900-02, 2 goals.	8 tests, 1903-07
C.B. Fry
Fry’s CV reads like an impossible romance from the boys’ comics of the era. He actually turned professional and joined Southampton with the aim of getting an international cap. He played at right back.
Club football:	First class  cricket:
Oxford University, Corinthian, Southampton, Portsmouth	Oxford University, London County, Hampshire, Sussex
International football:	International cricket:
1-1901 v Ireland	26 tests, 1896-1912
Jack Sharp
Sharp was an FA Cup winner with Everton in 1906, he played at outside right.
Club football:	First class cricket:
Aston Villa, Everton.	Lancashire
International football:	International cricket:
2-1903-05, 1 goal	3 tests, 1909.
Harry Makepeace
Wing half. A teammate of Jack Sharp in both sports and an FA Cup winner in 1906.
Club football:	First class  cricket:
Everton	Lancashire
International football:	International cricket:
4- 1906 -12	4 Tests, 1920-21
Wally Hardinge
Hardinge’s first class cricket career spanned 30 years.  He briefly managed Tottenham Hotspur.
Club football:	First class  cricket:
Newcastle United, Sheffield United, (Woolwich) Arsenal	Kent
International football:	International cricket:
1-1910 v Scotland	1 Test, 1921
Andy Ducat
Ducat captained the Aston Villa Cup winning team of 1920. He started out as a centre forward but won his international caps as a right half. Later managed Fulham. He has the macabre distinction of being the only player to die on the cricket field at Lords.
Club football:	First class  cricket:
Southend United, Woolwich Arsenal, Aston Villa, Fulham	Surrey
International football:	International cricket:
6-1910–20, 1 goal	1 Test, 1921
Johnny Arnold
Outside left. Johnny Arnold was an umpire for many years after he retired from cricket.
Club football:	First class  cricket:
Southampton, Fulham	Hampshire
International football:	International cricket:
1-1933 v Scotland	1 test, 1931

There's no 'I' in 'team'?

It may be apocryphal, but a lovely story anyhow. Professionalism is still 6 years off, and the England team is still dominated by the old Public Schoolboys and 'Varsity men. Combination play has yet to replace the old dribbling style. 
The place, Kennington Oval.
England v Scotland, March 3rd 1877.
The principals, Alfred Lyttelton and Billy Mosforth.

Alfred Lyttelton
Cambridge University, Member of Parliament, Queen's Counsel, Secretary of State for the Colonies.
An England Test cricketer and a superb field athlete and racquet sportsman.Lyttelton was a strapping 6ft 1 (1.85m) , and learned his football playing the Eton game. 

Billy Mosforth
One of the first England internationals to rely on a trade for his income, Mosforth was an engraver, and later a publican. 
A proto professional who turned out for 8 different Sheffield based clubs (Albion, The Wednesday, Zulus, Hallam, Rovers, Heeley, Lockwood Brothers and United) and was said to follow the money even in the days when professionalism was still outlawed. 
An all round sportsman, a runner and hurdler and a good club cricketer. 
There were physical differences in the classes in Victorian England, which were often in evidence when teams from the industrial north met opponents from the south- and Mosforth (5 ft 4- 1.63m) being 9 inches (22cms) shorter than Lyttleton is an example of this. 

Sheffield had taken to the combination game in the early 70s, possibly influenced by the play of the Royal Engineers. The Sheffield offside rule had also been more conducive to a passing game. Mosforth was a noted exponent of the new skill- the screw shot. He was also a very accurate crosser of the ball. Lyttelton  was a heads down and charge dribbler. At some point during the game , which England lost 3-1, Mosforth apparently became very annoyed at Lyttelton's selfish approach, and, unabashed by the barriers of class, let his teammate know it. We don't know what form Mosforth's admonishment took. Yorkshiremen are notoriously blunt.
Lyttelton's reply, or at least the reply he is alleged to have made, has survived.
I play, sir, for my own pleasure.

Alfred Lyttelton (England, 1878)

Reading descriptions of the play of The Hon.Alfred Lyttelton K.C (Cambridge University,  Old Etonians and England) nicely illustrates the fundamental differences between the early Association game and the game we know now.
In fact, Lyttelton (the first man to be capped by England in Football and cricket) provides us with early evidence of a player's strengths falling from fashion. An individualistic dribbler, he was criticized for selfish play on his one England appearance (he scored in a 3- 1 defeat to Scotland in 1878). 
Tributes were also paid to his 'bunting' skills. This 'bunting' appears to resemble the method used by a centre in Rugby Union to break through tackles:
This ... faculty he exercised by dint of a jerk of his hips, not as ordinarily by lowering the shoulder, and so the aggressor could see no sign of the terrific impact coming. 
Edward Lyttelton

What is described here is a more physical game, almost a collision sport. You dribble with the ball, probably backed up by a 'rush' of your own players surrounding you protectively. The opposition attempt to barge you off the ball, and you counter this with your own, hopefully more robust 'bunt'.

Some qualities , though, are enduring. Here isLyttelton's brother's account of his speed and shooting prowess:
He would run towards the corner and then swiftly turn inwards, running parallel to the back line, and some ten yards from it. At this point he was pursued probably by three of the opponents, barely keeping up. This continued till he got opposite the further goal post, and then one huge foot was smartly dropped on the ball, stopping it dead, and of course the pursuers all ran a yard or so too far, not suspecting the sudden pull up; thus he had a clear shot at the goal.