SPORTS HISTORY BLOG
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It's a word which was invented in the Victorian era as the short form of association football and has spread around the world, but the origins of 'soccer' remain shrouded in obscurity.
For a long time, the earliest printed example that the Oxford English Dictionary could find was in 1891. With digitisation of many Victorian publications that date has now been pushed back to 1885, when 'soccer' surfaced at the same time as its counterpart 'rugger'.
But this discovery has only served to muddy the waters as there are no fewer than three examples of 'soccer' or 'socker' in late 1885, all printed a few days apart in school magazines from different parts of the country. There is no obvious connection between them, so the mystery remains – where exactly did the word spring from?
For a long time, the earliest printed example that the Oxford English Dictionary could find was in 1891. With digitisation of many Victorian publications that date has now been pushed back to 1885, when 'soccer' surfaced at the same time as its counterpart 'rugger'.
But this discovery has only served to muddy the waters as there are no fewer than three examples of 'soccer' or 'socker' in late 1885, all printed a few days apart in school magazines from different parts of the country. There is no obvious connection between them, so the mystery remains – where exactly did the word spring from?
Charles Wreford Brown is often credited with inventing the word 'soccer' but this can now be dismissed as a myth.
The accepted wisdom is that 'soccer' was coined by students at Oxford University who had developed a slang which involved adding the suffix -er to common words: hence 'fresher' for freshman and 'brekker' for breakfast, among many others. Football was shortened to 'footer' but this could mean either code so they came up with a convoluted diminution of 'association' in response to the more easily-understood 'rugger' for rugby.
More specifically, soccer's invention has often been attributed to Charles Wreford Brown, an Old Carthusian, captain of the University football eleven and an England internationalist (pictured above). However, he can be ruled out as he was still at school when 'soccer' first appeared in print. In any case, the story was not published until 1952, a year after his death, when Geoffrey Green, the legendary football correspondent of The Times, told the anecdote but added the caveat 'Or so the story goes'.
The theory that soccer owes its origin to Oxford University takes a further dent as The Oxford Magazine offers the first printed use of 'Socker' in February 1887, three months after it first used 'Rugger'. Nothing earlier at the University has yet been found.
Nor is there anything to confirm that 'soccer' began life as 'assoccer' before being shortened, which may appear logical but there is no known contemporary usage of 'assoccer'. I believe this speculative explanation surfaced only recently, in the current century.
Let's have a look at the hard evidence, which points to 'soccer' and 'rugger' being created at the same time.
More specifically, soccer's invention has often been attributed to Charles Wreford Brown, an Old Carthusian, captain of the University football eleven and an England internationalist (pictured above). However, he can be ruled out as he was still at school when 'soccer' first appeared in print. In any case, the story was not published until 1952, a year after his death, when Geoffrey Green, the legendary football correspondent of The Times, told the anecdote but added the caveat 'Or so the story goes'.
The theory that soccer owes its origin to Oxford University takes a further dent as The Oxford Magazine offers the first printed use of 'Socker' in February 1887, three months after it first used 'Rugger'. Nothing earlier at the University has yet been found.
Nor is there anything to confirm that 'soccer' began life as 'assoccer' before being shortened, which may appear logical but there is no known contemporary usage of 'assoccer'. I believe this speculative explanation surfaced only recently, in the current century.
Let's have a look at the hard evidence, which points to 'soccer' and 'rugger' being created at the same time.
The earliest known printed use of 'soccer' in The Marlburian, dated 25 November 1885
By a whisker, the earliest known publication of 'soccer' was in The Marlburian, the fortnightly magazine of Marlborough College in Wiltshire, in its edition dated 25 November 1885. An anonymous pupil wrote: 'I can't help thinking it a great pity that there has been no 'Association' on the Common this term. It must improve the forward play and is certainly a pleasant change occasionally from everlasting Rugby.' He signed his letter 'Soccer', and clearly expected readers to understand what he meant by his pseudonym.
Intriguingly, Marlborough was a rugby-playing school, and although there were other letters in its magazine around that time promoting the merits of association football, only this one used the word 'soccer'.
Amazingly, within days, the word appeared in two other school publications, with a different spelling as 'socker'.
Intriguingly, Marlborough was a rugby-playing school, and although there were other letters in its magazine around that time promoting the merits of association football, only this one used the word 'soccer'.
Amazingly, within days, the word appeared in two other school publications, with a different spelling as 'socker'.
'Socker' and 'Rugger' make their first appearance in The Radleian magazine, December 1885 [Radley Archives]
'Our Oxford Letter' writes of 'Socker' in the December 1885 issue of The Oldhallian
At Radley College, five miles south of Oxford, a jocular article in the December 1885 issue of The Radleian used the word twice, comparing 'Socker' to 'Rugger' – which is the first known printed use of the latter – then stating: 'The patriotism of Old Radleians and their enthusiasm for 'Socker' reached such a pitch on All Saints' Day that they floated an Old Radleian Football Club.'
Also that month in Shropshire, at Old Hall School in Wellington, The Oldhallian contained an 'Oxford Letter' from a former pupil who wrote: 'The Varsity played Aston Villa and were beaten after a very exciting game; this was pre-eminently the most important 'Socker' game played in Oxford this term.'
So, in late 1885, correspondents to three geographically diverse schools all felt comfortable in using a new word for association football, and one of them used its equivalent for rugby. Yet there is nothing to link them and it is implausible that they all came up with the same idea simultaneously.
Also that month in Shropshire, at Old Hall School in Wellington, The Oldhallian contained an 'Oxford Letter' from a former pupil who wrote: 'The Varsity played Aston Villa and were beaten after a very exciting game; this was pre-eminently the most important 'Socker' game played in Oxford this term.'
So, in late 1885, correspondents to three geographically diverse schools all felt comfortable in using a new word for association football, and one of them used its equivalent for rugby. Yet there is nothing to link them and it is implausible that they all came up with the same idea simultaneously.
The geographically diverse locations of the schools which first used 'soccer' or 'socker' in print in late 1885: Old Hall (Shropshire), Radley (Oxfordshire), Marlborough (Wiltshire)
My hunch is that that 'soccer' and 'rugger' were already in verbal use and had been committed to print earlier that year in another journal – which has not yet been identified – and that this was picked up by these three contributors. Whatever their origin, the new slang took a surprisingly long time to gain traction as 'soccer' and 'rugger' were used only a few times in print in the second half of the decade.
After detailed searches, I have managed to find just a dozen or so instances of 'soccer' by 1890, mainly in school magazines. The Carthusian (Charterhouse) talks of the school’s soccer internationalists in October 1886 and the word appears again in December that year. There are further sightings in The City of London School Magazine in November 1886, The Lancing College Magazine of June 1887, and once more in The Radleian in February 1889.
On a national level, the terminology was picked up by the Boy's Own Paper in April 1889, with an article about 'Football at Oxford' which explained: 'In Varsity patois, Rugby is yclept Rugger while Association has for its synonym Socker.'
After detailed searches, I have managed to find just a dozen or so instances of 'soccer' by 1890, mainly in school magazines. The Carthusian (Charterhouse) talks of the school’s soccer internationalists in October 1886 and the word appears again in December that year. There are further sightings in The City of London School Magazine in November 1886, The Lancing College Magazine of June 1887, and once more in The Radleian in February 1889.
On a national level, the terminology was picked up by the Boy's Own Paper in April 1889, with an article about 'Football at Oxford' which explained: 'In Varsity patois, Rugby is yclept Rugger while Association has for its synonym Socker.'
The Tyro, the school magazine of Harrow, talked of school slang including 'Footer' in April 1864 [Harrow School Archives]
Interestingly, the principle of adding a suffix to common words can be traced with some certainty to Harrow, where The Tyro published an article about school slang in 1864: 'Our great predilection is for shortening words connected with the school into their roots, with the addition of er. For example, we speak of ducker, fouler, speecher etc where our fathers would have used the more decorous phrases of 'duck puddle', 'foul copy', 'speech room' as the case may be. But by far the most striking instance of this termination is in the short 'footer'.'
However, Harrow boys appear to have had no need of an alternative to 'footer' as 'soccer' did not make its first appearance in The Harrovian until March 1889.
However, Harrow boys appear to have had no need of an alternative to 'footer' as 'soccer' did not make its first appearance in The Harrovian until March 1889.
A writer ponders the origin of 'Soccer' and 'Rugger' in The Daily Telegraph, 14 August 1899 [British Newspaper Archive]
As the new words gained popularity during the 1890s, the divergence in spelling settled as 'soccer' rather than 'socker', and by the end of the decade soccer and rugger were so much part of the mainstream that in 1899 the Daily Telegraph reflected: 'Who now speaks of Association or Rugby football, and who does not welcome the abbreviated forms of 'Soccer' or 'Rugger'?'
The writer went on to ponder the origin of soccer as a word but was unable to come up with an answer: 'On whose lips Association first changed into Soccer, history is silent.'
That mystery remains the case today, and whether soccer started out as 'Varsity patois' or public school slang, there is no proof as yet.
For now, the credit for its first use goes to an unknown boy at Marlborough College, but I am confident that more about soccer's origin will, one day, be uncovered.
The writer went on to ponder the origin of soccer as a word but was unable to come up with an answer: 'On whose lips Association first changed into Soccer, history is silent.'
That mystery remains the case today, and whether soccer started out as 'Varsity patois' or public school slang, there is no proof as yet.
For now, the credit for its first use goes to an unknown boy at Marlborough College, but I am confident that more about soccer's origin will, one day, be uncovered.
Marlborough College rugby football team, pictured in 1870
For another perspective on the origins of soccer, see Steve Hendrick's lengthy analysis in Sporting Intelligence, published in 2015.
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The Victorian era saw the launch of a plethora of sporting titles, aimed at an audience which was thirsting for knowledge and insight.
Many of them faltered as the 20th century progressed, thanks to the First World War and changing social habits, and the titles are now largely forgotten. Yet to sporting historians the periodicals - such as the Badminton Magazine, Sporting Mirror and Baily's Magazine - are packed with intrigue and information. They cast a light on an era when sporting pursuits looked very different to what they do now, with invaluable first-hand accounts of people, events and techniques.
Now, thanks to the renowned sports historian Chris Harte, they have become accessible and searchable thanks to his extraordinary work in indexing a range of these titles. Not only that, he has written the history of each title, with biographies of the editors and contributors, and reproduced a vast number of the illustrations that made them so attractive. Although his books are aimed at academic researchers, and are printed in limited numbers, the pricing makes them accessible to anyone.
Chris's work is, without doubt, a labour of love which will benefit sports researchers around the world.
Many of them faltered as the 20th century progressed, thanks to the First World War and changing social habits, and the titles are now largely forgotten. Yet to sporting historians the periodicals - such as the Badminton Magazine, Sporting Mirror and Baily's Magazine - are packed with intrigue and information. They cast a light on an era when sporting pursuits looked very different to what they do now, with invaluable first-hand accounts of people, events and techniques.
Now, thanks to the renowned sports historian Chris Harte, they have become accessible and searchable thanks to his extraordinary work in indexing a range of these titles. Not only that, he has written the history of each title, with biographies of the editors and contributors, and reproduced a vast number of the illustrations that made them so attractive. Although his books are aimed at academic researchers, and are printed in limited numbers, the pricing makes them accessible to anyone.
Chris's work is, without doubt, a labour of love which will benefit sports researchers around the world.
Chris Harte's index of the Sporting Mirror (and other publications) includes not just the contents but also a reproduction of the images
Here is a quick summary of recent titles:
Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes (1860-1926). A monumental book which covers 796 monthly issues, 380 pages. £30.
The Badminton Magazine of Sports and Pastimes (1895-1923), 406 pages. £19.95. There is also a volume entitled Strange Stories of Sport (508 pages) which are extracted from the Badminton Magazine, £12.95.
The Sporting Mirror (1881-86), 162 pages. £7.95.
Fores's Sporting Notes and Sketches (1884-1912), 200 pages. £9.95.
The Captain (1899-1924), 394 pages. £10.99.
Currently in preparation is the history and index of CB Fry's Magazine of Sports and Outdoor Life.
The books can be ordered online from major retailers including Waterstones and amazon. They can also be found on ebay.
Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes (1860-1926). A monumental book which covers 796 monthly issues, 380 pages. £30.
The Badminton Magazine of Sports and Pastimes (1895-1923), 406 pages. £19.95. There is also a volume entitled Strange Stories of Sport (508 pages) which are extracted from the Badminton Magazine, £12.95.
The Sporting Mirror (1881-86), 162 pages. £7.95.
Fores's Sporting Notes and Sketches (1884-1912), 200 pages. £9.95.
The Captain (1899-1924), 394 pages. £10.99.
Currently in preparation is the history and index of CB Fry's Magazine of Sports and Outdoor Life.
The books can be ordered online from major retailers including Waterstones and amazon. They can also be found on ebay.
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After buying a copy of a rare football handbook, I was intrigued to find out more about the author and his other sporting books.
The little volume by 'Straw Hat' on Rugby & Association Football was one of Dean's Champion Handbooks, which had attractive cover designs and were published to capitalise on the growing desire of the population to take up sport. They came out in the 1890s, and are now very difficult to find.
'Straw Hat' was the pseudonym of James Jeffery, who had an interesting story as a talented sportsman who combined school teaching with journalism.
The little volume by 'Straw Hat' on Rugby & Association Football was one of Dean's Champion Handbooks, which had attractive cover designs and were published to capitalise on the growing desire of the population to take up sport. They came out in the 1890s, and are now very difficult to find.
'Straw Hat' was the pseudonym of James Jeffery, who had an interesting story as a talented sportsman who combined school teaching with journalism.
Jeffery, born in 1834, went to school in Clapham and then qualified as a teacher at Battersea Training College. In 1858 he was appointed as Assistant Master at Epsom College, where his duties included running the school cricket team and he probably also played football. He held the post until 1879 when he set up a private Preparatory School for the College, which he ran until about 1900. He died in Epsom in 1907.
Meanwhile, he also carved out a career as a sports writer, initially concentrating on angling as 'Straw Hat' in the Licensed Victuallers' Gazette. His enthusiasm for sports must have appealed to Dean & Son Ltd of Fleet Street, who had started a series of sporting handbooks in the early 1890s based on previously published works about cricket, cycling and swimming. To expand their range, they employed Jeffery and he churned out several books including Football, Croquet, Tennis and Rowing, with an adaptation of the book on Swimming. The cheap editions sold for sixpence, while the hardbacks with colourful covers were a shilling.
Meanwhile, he also carved out a career as a sports writer, initially concentrating on angling as 'Straw Hat' in the Licensed Victuallers' Gazette. His enthusiasm for sports must have appealed to Dean & Son Ltd of Fleet Street, who had started a series of sporting handbooks in the early 1890s based on previously published works about cricket, cycling and swimming. To expand their range, they employed Jeffery and he churned out several books including Football, Croquet, Tennis and Rowing, with an adaptation of the book on Swimming. The cheap editions sold for sixpence, while the hardbacks with colourful covers were a shilling.
The listing of Dean's Champion Handbooks in 1898, including the cheap sixpenny booklets and the shilling hardback books.
James Jeffery, known as 'Straw Hat'
Jeffery was not just an enthusiastic writer, he also tried to improve the sporting experience and invented various gadgets such as a new type of batting glove, a kind of cricket practice net, and a spinning reel for angling.
While most of his book about football is about playing technique, he does provide an interesting anecdote about the early days of football before codification, describing a match played at Wimbledon in the 1860s when his team, which was a 'non-hacking club', came up against a school which did play the hacking game. I believe, from his description, that 'Josh' was the athlete GR (George Richard) Nunn, who was schooled at Epsom.
While most of his book about football is about playing technique, he does provide an interesting anecdote about the early days of football before codification, describing a match played at Wimbledon in the 1860s when his team, which was a 'non-hacking club', came up against a school which did play the hacking game. I believe, from his description, that 'Josh' was the athlete GR (George Richard) Nunn, who was schooled at Epsom.
James Jeffery's recollection of early football in south London
Epsom College cricket XI in 1863, with James Jeffery in striped shirt at the back (Epsom College Archive)
At the end of the day, James Jeffery was not a hugely important writer on sport, but his work in the Champion series does provide an interesting insight into the late Victoria era. And if nothing else, the attractive cover designs deserve to be appreciated by a wider audience.
Illustrated below are three more of Dean's Champion Handbooks, on billiards, swimming and golf. The images come from dealer catalogues, so they are not particularly sharp.
Illustrated below are three more of Dean's Champion Handbooks, on billiards, swimming and golf. The images come from dealer catalogues, so they are not particularly sharp.
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It was back in 2012 that I wrote of the need for a new Scotland who's who. Already by that time I had started to research the many internationalists who deserved to be better known, but I had little idea of the size of the job I was undertaking.
Now, after countless hours of research the book is finally published. The men who made Scotland contains detailed biographies of 615 players, in fact every player who represented Scotland between 1872 and 1939.
It is on sale from amazon or directly from me, and purchases of copies have quickly gone into three figures, but while I welcome any sales I have to clear that this was never going to be a profitable project. My aim, all along, was to ensure that footballers who reached the pinnacle of their profession by pulling on the dark blue of Scotland should be known about and celebrated. For too long, many of them were lost to the winds and I am delighted to have put that right.
After devoting the best part of ten years to completing the research and getting this book into print, the big question is: what now? In fact, I have a list of projects, large and small, which I can now get my teeth into.
Watch this space, I hope you continue to find much of interest on this website.
Now, after countless hours of research the book is finally published. The men who made Scotland contains detailed biographies of 615 players, in fact every player who represented Scotland between 1872 and 1939.
It is on sale from amazon or directly from me, and purchases of copies have quickly gone into three figures, but while I welcome any sales I have to clear that this was never going to be a profitable project. My aim, all along, was to ensure that footballers who reached the pinnacle of their profession by pulling on the dark blue of Scotland should be known about and celebrated. For too long, many of them were lost to the winds and I am delighted to have put that right.
After devoting the best part of ten years to completing the research and getting this book into print, the big question is: what now? In fact, I have a list of projects, large and small, which I can now get my teeth into.
Watch this space, I hope you continue to find much of interest on this website.
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I have just added to my collection of digitised sports books with this 1930 history of the Scottish Football League. It was written by John McCartney, who had just retired from a long career in football as player and manager.
You can read this book by clicking on the cover image above to download a pdf, or visit my Digitised books and articles page where you can read a wide range of rare material.
In the light of recent controversy about the league's organisation and its member clubs, McCartney's interesting account makes it clear that discord and argument are nothing new, in fact they have been a feature of Scottish football since the beginning.
He was able to speak from long personal experience as a player and manager on both sides of the border. His playing career included Rangers, Cowlairs, Newton Heath (Manchester United), Luton Town and Barnsley, where he first went into management. He continued his managerial career with St Mirren, Hearts, Portsmouth and Luton Town before ill health forced his retiral.
You can read this book by clicking on the cover image above to download a pdf, or visit my Digitised books and articles page where you can read a wide range of rare material.
In the light of recent controversy about the league's organisation and its member clubs, McCartney's interesting account makes it clear that discord and argument are nothing new, in fact they have been a feature of Scottish football since the beginning.
He was able to speak from long personal experience as a player and manager on both sides of the border. His playing career included Rangers, Cowlairs, Newton Heath (Manchester United), Luton Town and Barnsley, where he first went into management. He continued his managerial career with St Mirren, Hearts, Portsmouth and Luton Town before ill health forced his retiral.
His 48 page book has a number of excellent illustrations, notably the panoramic stadium views of Hampden Park, seen here packed to capacity, as well as Ibrox and Tynecastle.
McCartney also drew, from memory, this image of the original pavilion at Renton FC when they were founders of the Scottish League in 1890. It was a bittersweet moment for the Dunbartonshire club, who had been declared 'World Champions' two years earlier, as they were summarily ejected from the League for professionalism after just five matches.
Even the adverts are interesting, such as this one from Paddy Crossan's Bar in Edinburgh city centre. Crossan was a legendary former Hearts player who saw active service in WW1. The pub retained his name for many years after his death in 1933.
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Sixty years ago today the French author Albert Camus was killed in a car crash, aged 46. He had won the Nobel Prize for Literature and will always be considered an intellectual giant, but in a sporting context he is remembered best for his quote on football: 'Everything I know most surely about morality and duty, I owe to football'.
The philosophical quote came at the end of an article he had written, and which really only came to widespread notice on its second publication. As a youth, he had been an enthusiastic and talented goalkeeper in his native Algeria with a junior team of RUA (Racing Universitaire d'Alger). He was forced to give up the game aged 17 when he contracted tuberculosis, but remained a great fan of the sport throughout his life. When he moved to Paris he supported Racing Club de Paris, purely because they played in blue and white hoops, the same strip as his old club.
His strong affection for RUA was such that he wrote a lengthy article for the club magazine in April 1953. Then, when he won the Nobel Prize, the weekly magazine France Football asked him to contribute a piece but he was short of time so he simply submitted the old article: you can read it here. It was so impressive that it took over the whole of the back page of the issue of 17 December 1957, which had a picture of Alfredo di Stefano on the cover to mark his selection as European Footballer on the Year. This edition of France Football is now a real collector's item.
The philosophical quote came at the end of an article he had written, and which really only came to widespread notice on its second publication. As a youth, he had been an enthusiastic and talented goalkeeper in his native Algeria with a junior team of RUA (Racing Universitaire d'Alger). He was forced to give up the game aged 17 when he contracted tuberculosis, but remained a great fan of the sport throughout his life. When he moved to Paris he supported Racing Club de Paris, purely because they played in blue and white hoops, the same strip as his old club.
His strong affection for RUA was such that he wrote a lengthy article for the club magazine in April 1953. Then, when he won the Nobel Prize, the weekly magazine France Football asked him to contribute a piece but he was short of time so he simply submitted the old article: you can read it here. It was so impressive that it took over the whole of the back page of the issue of 17 December 1957, which had a picture of Alfredo di Stefano on the cover to mark his selection as European Footballer on the Year. This edition of France Football is now a real collector's item.
Albert Camus (front, with cap) was a goalkeeper for Racing Universitaire d'Alger in his youth
A couple of years later, Camus reinforced his point in an interview: 'What little I know about morality, I learned it on football pitches and theatre stages - these were my true universities.'
Football intellectuals are ten-a-penny these days, but in the 1950s Albert Camus was a trailblazer for the 'socceratis' to follow, and for that he deserves enormous respect.
Football intellectuals are ten-a-penny these days, but in the 1950s Albert Camus was a trailblazer for the 'socceratis' to follow, and for that he deserves enormous respect.
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The growth of Scottish sport in the late Victorian era owes much to the efforts of Percival King, an Edinburgh sports shop owner. He was one of the first to understand the value of self-promotion, edited a superb cricket annual and donated football trophies which are still competed for today.
King was born in Surrey in 1835 and although he was apprenticed as a cooper he was hooked on cricket and soon found himself in demand as a batsman. Still following his trade, he moved to Cheshire where he played for Birkenhead Park, and returned to London where had a trial for Surrey. He was given his first professional engagement in Birmingham and then Fred Lillywhite offered him the chance of a job in Scotland.
He duly came to Edinburgh in 1862 as cricket professional at Merchiston Castle School and would remain in the city for the rest of his life. Although he coached at the school for 13 years, he really made his mark with his pioneering sports retail business. He opened his first shop in Bristo Street in 1868 and it did so well that he soon expanded to a Cricket and Football Warehouse at 54 Lothian Street, which included a billiard room as well as an extensive stock of playing equipment.
King was born in Surrey in 1835 and although he was apprenticed as a cooper he was hooked on cricket and soon found himself in demand as a batsman. Still following his trade, he moved to Cheshire where he played for Birkenhead Park, and returned to London where had a trial for Surrey. He was given his first professional engagement in Birmingham and then Fred Lillywhite offered him the chance of a job in Scotland.
He duly came to Edinburgh in 1862 as cricket professional at Merchiston Castle School and would remain in the city for the rest of his life. Although he coached at the school for 13 years, he really made his mark with his pioneering sports retail business. He opened his first shop in Bristo Street in 1868 and it did so well that he soon expanded to a Cricket and Football Warehouse at 54 Lothian Street, which included a billiard room as well as an extensive stock of playing equipment.
An early edition of Percival King's Scottish Cricketers' Annual, which he published from 1871 to 1887.
He launched the Scottish Cricketers' Annual in 1871, which was not only an indispensible record of the game in Scotland, it also included a full catalogue of his stock. It would run to 17 editions, which are now rare and highly collectable.
The same year he played his one first class match for Surrey, and although he scored 13 his great achievement was as wicket keeper, catching WG Grace.
Back in Edinburgh he was noted as a batsman, captained the Players of Scotland and played many years for Brunswick; in 1885, aged 49, he scored 115 not out for them against Craigmount. He umpired numerous matches and was the undoubted guru of Scottish cricket thanks to his shop and the Annual.
King was also an excellent businessman and clearly had an eye for an opportunity, keen to encourage other sports that might improve his turnover, notably football.
In 1887 he donated the first Scottish Junior Cup to the fledgling Scottish Junior FA, and the inaugural competition was won by Fairfield Athletic, who defeated Edinburgh Woodburn 3-1 in Govan. King presented the cup to the winners in the public bar next to the ground.
The same year he played his one first class match for Surrey, and although he scored 13 his great achievement was as wicket keeper, catching WG Grace.
Back in Edinburgh he was noted as a batsman, captained the Players of Scotland and played many years for Brunswick; in 1885, aged 49, he scored 115 not out for them against Craigmount. He umpired numerous matches and was the undoubted guru of Scottish cricket thanks to his shop and the Annual.
King was also an excellent businessman and clearly had an eye for an opportunity, keen to encourage other sports that might improve his turnover, notably football.
In 1887 he donated the first Scottish Junior Cup to the fledgling Scottish Junior FA, and the inaugural competition was won by Fairfield Athletic, who defeated Edinburgh Woodburn 3-1 in Govan. King presented the cup to the winners in the public bar next to the ground.
Fairfield Athletic, first Scottish Junior Cup winners in 1887, with Percival King's original trophy on the left
From those small beginnings, the Scottish Junior Cup is now the world's oldest continually played football competition, having been contested annually without a break ever since (including war years). However, as the competition grew, King's silver-plated cup was soon considered too insignificant and in 1897 a new and grander trophy was commissioned by the SJFA, the one that is still in use today.
King's original cup went into retirement, although it made one more appearance before modern times, being put up by the Scottish Junior FA as the War Fund Cup in 1917-18 and won by Renfrew Juniors. Then it disappeared from view until 1985 when the Sunday Post were contacted by a Lanarkshire reader who had been given the cup by a relative. The trophy duly came up for auction at Christies in April 1987 and sold for £500 to a demolition company in Kilsyth. The company's general manager was quoted in the press a few days later saying that he had intended to display it in his offices, but realising the interest of the SJFA he would donate it back to its original owners.
Also in 1887, Percival King donated a cup to the Edinburgh FA who decided to use it 'with a view to keeping up interest among clubs after they had been defeated in the Shield competition'. It was named the King Cup and is still played for to this day by East of Scotland League clubs, probably one of the oldest sponsorship deals in world football!
King's original cup went into retirement, although it made one more appearance before modern times, being put up by the Scottish Junior FA as the War Fund Cup in 1917-18 and won by Renfrew Juniors. Then it disappeared from view until 1985 when the Sunday Post were contacted by a Lanarkshire reader who had been given the cup by a relative. The trophy duly came up for auction at Christies in April 1987 and sold for £500 to a demolition company in Kilsyth. The company's general manager was quoted in the press a few days later saying that he had intended to display it in his offices, but realising the interest of the SJFA he would donate it back to its original owners.
Also in 1887, Percival King donated a cup to the Edinburgh FA who decided to use it 'with a view to keeping up interest among clubs after they had been defeated in the Shield competition'. It was named the King Cup and is still played for to this day by East of Scotland League clubs, probably one of the oldest sponsorship deals in world football!
A receipt from King's sports shop in Lothian Street, Edinburgh
He wound up his business in 1899, selling off his entire stock at auction, but his latter years were a challenge as he and his wife lived in straitened circumstances. Scotland’s top cricketers played a benefit match in 1909 which brought some comfort but he died the following year in Longmore Hospital after a long illness.
Percival King deserves to be remembered as a sporting pioneer whose efforts enabled a generation of Scottish sportsmen to play the games they loved, and whose legacy lives on in the competitions he helped to establish.
Percival King
Born 9 December 1835 in Stockwell, Surrey.
Died 29 October 1910 in Edinburgh.
Percival King deserves to be remembered as a sporting pioneer whose efforts enabled a generation of Scottish sportsmen to play the games they loved, and whose legacy lives on in the competitions he helped to establish.
Percival King
Born 9 December 1835 in Stockwell, Surrey.
Died 29 October 1910 in Edinburgh.
King's advert on the front page of the Scottish Athletic Journal in 1886 claimed 'the largest stock of footballs and football goods in the United Kingdom'.
- Published on
I recently gave a talk about Scottish football literature - and the lack of it - at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. This was at a symposium on sport in the arts, hosted by the British Society of Sports History.
The main thrust of my presentation was the lack of Scottish novels about football, despite it playing such a prominent part in our daily lives, and despite several high profile contemporary authors being football fans.
You can read the full illustrated talk by clicking here. Please feel free to leave any comments below.
The main thrust of my presentation was the lack of Scottish novels about football, despite it playing such a prominent part in our daily lives, and despite several high profile contemporary authors being football fans.
You can read the full illustrated talk by clicking here. Please feel free to leave any comments below.
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Author
All blog posts, unless stated, are written by Andy Mitchell.