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  Page Last Updated 12 November 2010

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11 vs. Wales
 12
 13 vs. Scotland

 Results 1872-1890

Saturday, 26 February 1881
 International Friendly Match

England 0 Wales 1 [0-0]
 
 

Match Summary
England Squad
 Wales Squad
 Team Records

East Lancashire Cricket Club, Alexandra Meadows, Gawthorpe, Blackburn, Lancashire
 Attendance: 3,000 (possibly as much as 4,200); Kick-off 3.00pm GMT

Wales - Jackie Vaughan ('Hawtrey threw it out, but was charged over, and Vaughan running up placed the leather safely thro' the goal' 54).

England won toss, Wales kicked-off.
  

Match Summary
Officials [umpires and referees are of equal relevance]

England

Type

Wales

Umpires -
Thomas Hindle
 Darwen (Hon. secretary Lancashire FA) &
Edward Manners
Wales (Hon. secretary Welsh FA).

Referee -
Segar R. Bastard
27 (25 January 1854), Bow, London

Played according to London Association rules.

   Goal Attempts  
  Attempts on Target  
  Hit Bar/Post  
  Corner Kicks Won  
  Offside Calls Against  
  Fouls Conceded  
  Possession  

England Team
 

Rank:

 No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 2nd		 Colours: "The English eleven had on, as usual, the white jerseys, with the regular badge on the left breast".
Capt: Jack Hunter, first captaincy. Selectors: The Football Association Committee following trial games, with Secretary Charles W. Alcock having the primary influence, on Monday, 7 February 1881.
England Lineup
  Hawtrey, John P. 30 19 July 1850 G Remnants FC & Old Etonians AFC 1 1 GA
  Harvey, Alfred 26/27 early 1854 RB Wednesbury Strollers FC 1 0
  Bambridge, Arthur L. 19 16 June 1861 LB

Swifts FC

 1 0
  Hunter, John 28 summer 1852 HB Heeley FC, Providence FC, Wednesday Club & Sheffield Albion FC 4 0
  Hargreaves, Frederick W. 22 16 August 1858 HB

Blackburn Rovers FC

 2 0
  Marshall, Thomas 22 12 September 1858 OR

Darwen FC

 2 0
  Rostron, Thurston 17
311 days		 21 April 1863 IR

Darwen FC

 1 0
7 Brown, James 18
210 days		 31 July 1862 CF

Blackburn Rovers FC

 1 0
  Tait, George 21 late 1859 CF

Birmingham Excelsior FC

 1 0
  Hargreaves, John 20 13 December 1860 IL

Blackburn Rovers FC

 1 0
  Mosforth, William 23 2 January 1858 OL

Wednesday FC

 7 2

reserves:

 reserves not known

team notes:

 The original team line-up included Nottingham Forest FC's Edwin Luntley, and Upton Park FC's Clem Mitchell. But at the 'last moment, were unable to take their places', their places going to Harvey and Tait.
Billy Mosforth extends his record cap haul.
 

2-2-6

 Hawtrey -
Harvey, Bambridge -
Hunter, F.Hargreaves -
Marshall, Rostron, Brown, Tait, J.Hargreaves, Mosforth.

Averages:

 Age 22.3/4 Appearances/Goals 2.0 0.2

 

Wales Team
 

Rank:

No official ranking system established;
ELO rating 3rd

 Colours: "The Welshmen wore white shirts, but to distinguish the players the visiting team wore a sash of ribbon as a belt".
Capt: John Morgan Selectors: Team selection chosen by Committee, following a series of trial matches.
Wales Lineup
1 McMillan, Robert 24 1857 G

Shrewsbury Engineers FC, England

 1 0 GA
2 Morgan, John R. 26 1855 B

Derby Grammar School, England

 5 0
3 Kenrick, S. Llewellyn
  had his knee dislocated and teeth shattered and retired, but returned later.		 33 summer 1847 B

Shropshire Wanderers FC, England

 5 0
  Williams, William - - HB

Druids FC

 6 0
  Bell, William S. 20 22 August 1860 HB Shrewsbury Engineers FC, England 1 0
  Goodwin, Uriah 22 1859 RF

Ruthin FC

 1 0
Vaughan, John 25/26 1855 RF

Druids FC

 3 1
  Crosse, Knyvett 25 July 1855 CF

Druids FC

 2 0
9 Price, John - - CF

Wrexham AFC

 6 0
  Owen, William P. 20 20 November 1860 LF

Ruthin FC

 3 0
  Lewis, Thomas - - LF

Wrexham AFC

 1 0

reserves:

 reserves not known

team notes:

 The original team line-up included "Ruabon's J. Powell, one of the best back's in Wales, he failed to put in appearance, but [Llewellyn] Kenrick, who has not played for a couple of seasons, volunteered to fill the vacancy". Jack Powell had in fact, missed his train conenction.
Reports at the time called Knyvett Crosse " "C.R. Smith" " (with the inverted comma's, to show it was a pseudonym.
 
2-2-6 McMillan -
Morgan, Kendrick -
Williams, Bell -
Vaughan, Goodwin, Crosse, Price, Owen, Lewis.

Averages:

 Age n/a Appearances/Goals 3.1 0.1

 

Match Report

"Wretched weather...the ground covered in snow and slush, a circumstance which the English said helped the Welsh to gain their unexpected victory"

Hawtrey, the English goalkeeper, threw the ball out but was charged over at the same time and Vaughan running up placed the leather safely through the goal for Wales. The Englishmen strove hard to get on terms with their opponents. Shot after shot was aimed at the Welsh goal but each attempt was rendered futile. When time was called Wales were declared winners by one goal to love. - Wrexham Advertiser - Saturday 5th March, 1881

An Association match between England and Wales was played on Saturday last at Blackburn. The attendance was large. Wales were lucky enough to secure a goal, by which point they won the match. England made several determined efforts to score, and their rivals' goal had many very narrow escapes. - The Times - Monday 28th February, 1881

Source Notes

Most of the Welsh birth details have been taken from the UK 1881 census, which was taken on the night of the 3rd April 1881.
The census also revealed that Welsh goalkeeper, Robert McMillan, was born in South America. 
There was only one John R. Morgan in Derby in 1881, a 26 year-old schoolmaster of Derby School.  Likewise, there was only one William Bell living in Shropshire, a 28 year-old coal miner.
There was, however, 2,240 William Williams in the census alone. 105 of them lived in Denbighshire, and those are just the males of playing age.  By a similar notion, there were nine different Thomas Lewis', and sixteen John Price's, in Wrexham.

Wrexham Advertiser, 5 March 1881
Cris Freddi: Football Historian
Welsh Football Data Archive
TheFA.com
FreeBMD.org.uk
Rothmans Yearbooks
Alan Brown: Football Historian
IFFHS.de
HistoricalKits.co.uk/international/Wales

____________________

CG