Q from Derek Oxbrow, from Huntingdon, Cambs., England, 20 November 2006:  When Peter Crouch scored his 11th goal for England I thought I heard the commentator say "this breaks the record for the most goals in "one season or one year"  by an England player.  Can you confirm is this is true please?

A from GI:  Peter Crouch only broke the post-war record for scoring most England goals in a calendar year and it was the highest total since Middlesbrough's George Camsell hit 11 in 1929.  The all-time record was set by Chelsea's George Hilsdon in 1908.  He scored 12 when England first played continental opposition. It was equalled by Dixie Dean of Everton in 1927.  This was arguably the bigger achievement, because he scored them all in five games in the 1926-27 season and one of Hilsdon's was a penalty. Then, in the 1927-28 season, Dean set the all-time top flight scoring record by netting 60 First Division goals.

Q from Neil Morrison, location unknown, 18 November 2006:  I was of course aware that the stadium at Wembley was originally known as the Empire Stadium, and I notice that your England national team website calls it Empire Stadium right up to 2000. I thought that at some point the name was formally changed to "Wembley Stadium", which is what people called it anyway, and is perhaps more politically considerate, but have been unable to verify whether this did indeed happen, and if it did, when exactly the renaming occured. I would be grateful if you could clear up the matter!

A from GI:  Looking at the programme covers, it would appear that the 50th anniversary of the stadium in 1973, brought about the change from Empire Stadium, Wembley to Wembley Stadium. However, there wasn't a clear boundary where one name ended and the next began. For instance, the 1973 F.A. Cup Final cover (Leeds v. Sunderland) was the first to call it Wembley Stadium.  The following cup finals all followed suit in 1973-74, but the England internationals were still all at the Empire Stadium and didn't change until the beginning of the 1974-75 season.  Then, just to confuse us all, the 1975 F.A. Cup Final (Fulham v. West Ham) was back at the Empire Stadium! After that, it was Wembley Stadium all the way, with additional slogans, such as 'Where Else?' and 'Venue of Legends' added underneath the name, as part of the logo.

The company that owned the stadium was always called Wembley Stadium Limited from when it was bought by Arthur Elvin, so I think the term 'Empire Stadium', borne out of the British Empire Exhibition of 1924 was just the popular name of the time and the changes from 1973 onwards were just reflecting popular usage. Incidentally, I noticed that in the press of the 1920s, it was referred to as 'The Wembley Stadium'.

Additional from CG:  From the 1974-75 season, we shall be referring to the Empire Stadium as Wembley Stadium, under advice from Glen Isherwood.

Q from Grant Guslow, location unknown, 2 November 2006: I was just looking at [this page] and was interested to know (argument with a mate) which individual scored the most goals against England in history?  I seem to recall this being a trick question and the answer being Emlyn Hughes with x amount of own goals.

A from GI:  I can't be absolutely certain, without going through every match, but I'll be surprised if anyone's scored more goals against England than George Ker, of Queens Park, who scored seven goals against England in three successive meetings between 1880 and 1882. These were his only three caps, so it was some record. The period was very much one of Scottish dominance and they won five in a row against the old enemy, which included their biggest ever victory against England, 6-1 at The Oval, Kennington in 1881. Ker began with a hat-trick in a 5-4 win at Hampden Park in 1880 and he notched two in each of the following games, at the Oval and in a further 5-1 thrashing at Hampden in 1882.
Jock Dodds, of Blackpool, also scored seven goals against England, but these were all during World War II, so were not regarded as official.  His first was at Newcastle in 1939 and his seventh at Villa Park in 1945. Dodds, who played for Sheffield United in the 1936 F.A. Cup Final, scored a hat-trick against England in a 5-4 win at Hampden Park, in 1942. He played in six wartime games against England, but never won a full international cap for Scotland.
Further research is required to confirm that these are the top scorers.  I sincerely doubt that any England player has been that prolific in finding his own net!

Q from Kevin Adams, from Nottingham, 27 October 2006:  Can you settle an argument by answering the following question�.prior to David Healy, who was the last player to score for Northern Ireland against England??  I think it was Noel Brotherstone in 1980, my mate says it was Terry Cochrane in the same game 1-1 draw at Wembley.

A from CG:  Excellent question, but your mate is correct. The scorer in the 82nd minute of that said match (on 20 May 1980) was Terry Cochrane.  However, which is where you may be getting mixed up, the England goal two minutes earlier, although scored by David Johnson, is sometimes credited to Noel Brotherston, who got the last touch.

Q from Matthew Ashton, from Knowsley, 20 October 2006:  My great uncle Dan Pettit played for England in the 1936 Olympics, but I notice he is not listed on your otherwise exceptional website.  Any particular reason?

sources stated: http://footballmundial.tripod.com/olympics/1936berlin.htm and http://football.guardian.co.uk/theknowledge/story/0,13854,1594901,00.html

A from CG:  The football in the Olympic games were open to amateur footballers of the time.  Your uncle never actually played for the full national team, only the Amateur side.  Today, the amateurs are known as semi-professional, and their national team is called England National XI.  And apart from anything else, it was Great Britain who played in the Olympics, not England.  It's a shame, because Bernard Joy, one of Pettit's team-mates in the GB side, actually managed to play for the full side, despite being an amateur, and is acknowledged as being the last to do so.

Q from Johnny Carson, from Coventry, 17 October 2006:  Who was the first Coventry City player to score at Wembley?

A from GI:  Colin Stein for The Three against The Six in the EEC Celebration match in January 1973.

Q from Linda Morris, from West Midlands, 15 October 2006:  Could you please tell me who was the first footballer born after 1966 to play for England?

A from CG:  That question is not actually as straightforward as it seems - by 1966, I am assuming you mean the World Cup Final on 30 July 1966.  If so, then the first player born afterwards was Nigel Martyn, who was born on 11 August 1966 - but he didn't play for England until 1992. 
Whereas the first player to play for England, born after 1966, was Tony Adams, in 1989.

Q from Swivl, location unknown, 8 October 2006:  What does the star mean on the England shirt above England badge?

A from CG:  The star is to remind us all that England have failed to win a single meaningful trophy since 1966.  It signifies England's one and only World Cup Final's win, back in '66 against West Germany.

Q from Jon Foster, from Chesham, Bucks., 17 September 2006:  Has anyone ever scored hat-tricks for England in consecutive matches?

A from CG:  Only twice has this happened, both a very long time ago.  Dixie Dean scored 3 against Belgium, 11 May 1927, then 3 in the next match against Luxembourg, 21 May 1927.   Previous to this, it was Viv Woodward, he scored 4 against Hungary, 31 May 1909, then the next day, he popped in another 3 against Austria.   There's a full list of chronological hat-tricks here.

Q from Martin Attrill, from Plymouth, 14 September 2006:  I am looking for data on what shirt colour England have worn in each game (i.e. red or white) � you have excellent tables on the website giving results of each England game, but do you have any details at all on which shirt colour was worn during each of these games? Alternatively, do you know of any sites where I can find this information?

A from CG:  You just need to look a little deeper into the website. We have an extensive list of uniforms going back to 1964 (now 1946). This is the link to the index page:-

http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamUnif/Unif.html

Scroll down, click on the photo of the shirt you are interested in - and you will have a full list of matches England played wearing that particular shirt.  You cannot find this information anywhere else.

Q from Alex Macdonald, from U.S.A., 7 September 2006:  Was the world cup final of 66 the last time a Fulham and Blackpool player represented England in the same match?

A from CG:  The World Cup Final of 1966 was the last time any Blackpool player featured for England.  So the fact Alan Ball, then of Blackpool, played alongside George Cohen of Fulham, makes this the last occasion a Fulham player and a Blackpool player played alongside each other.

Q from Ray, from Merseyside, 7 September 2006:  Can you tell me who has scored the most hat-tricks for England?

A from CG:  The simple answer is 6 by Jimmy Greaves.  You will find the whole list here:

Q from Steve Rackett, location not given, 30 August 2006:  Who did Gary Lineker score his 48th and last England goal against?

A from CG:  Gary Lineker scored his last goal against C.I.S. on 29 April 1992.

Q from Jamie Tanner, location not given, 30 August 2006:  Just wondering if you can answer a question regarding the England shirt that was worn between 1993 and 1995. Did the shirts ever have numbers on the front of them as well as names on the back?  I have been told that they did but can't find any photographic evidence of this being the case and no one can tell me which game(s) this happened in.

A from CG:  There is no photographic evidence simply because it did not happen in the full internationals.  The use of numbers on the front is a practice used by England in major tournaments.  And as we didn't make World Cup 1994 - it was not seen.  Names on the back of the shirt were used in the US Cup tournament in 1993.  But no numbers on the front of the shirt.  There is, however, evidence to show that England wore numbers on the front of the shirt in the Youth Championships 1993.

A from GI: The simple answer is no. Numbers first appeared on the front of the England shirt at the 1992 European Championship in Sweden, but did not appear again until Euro '96 and continued in each game thereafter.

Q from Steve Rowley, location not given, 23 August 2006:  I was wondering if you could tell me if [Albert Sturgess] was born in Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire?

A from CG:  I have Sturgess being born in the Etruria region of Stoke-on-Trent. I am not familiar with Stoke, so I have no idea whether this has any significance with Shelton.

Q from Roy Bedford, from Bedford, 19 August 2006:  In the 1960s England played Young England a number of times. Match programmes from the 13 May 1966 game at Highbury and 19 May 1967 game at Stamford Bridge are in my possession but I do not know the results.  Can you help me?

A from CG:  The 1966 match at Highbury ended in a 1-1 draw.  SecretAgentMarky from ebay provided me with the score from the 1967 Stamford Bridge match.  It was a 5-1 win to the Young England.

Q from Colin Lorne, location not given, 18 August 2006:  I was wondering if you had any advice on whereabouts I may be able to find an original 1982 england home shirt (I have discovered it is harder than I thought!) ?  I have been after one for a while now, not THAT long though, I'm only 17.  But it appears to be impossibly difficult to find an original shirt, which is both in my size: small, and not ridiculously priced (I work in Oxfam, so can hardly afford some on eBay).  Infact, there are rarely any original shirts on eBay, and when there are they go for huge amounts.  So, I was wondering if you knew of anyway, or anyone even, that might have such shirt?  I would be very grateful if you could help, and I shall continue my search.

A from CG:  These items are very rare, and until Admiral re-licence the shirt to allow retro designs to be made, they will remain elusive.  The only place any readers have ever found this shirt is on ebay, and because they are so rare and such a wanted item, you will  very rarely get one for under �70.  I'd love to be able to help more, but there is simply no outlet other than ebay regarding this shirt.

Q from Robert Madden, location not given, 16 August 2006:  How many times was Trevor Francis capped by England?

A from CG:  52 times.

Q from Jeanne Ellison, location not given, 16 August 2006:  Do you know how long England’s longest unbeaten run was?

A from CG:  It was over 100 years ago, the run ran for 20 matches from 15 March 1890 until 16 March 1896. There have been a few very nearlies since then, but they fell a couple of matches short.

Q from Will Eadson, from Kingston, London, 16 August 2006:  Following Shaun Wright-Phillips� involvement in the England set-up, I was wondering if you could tell me who the shortest player to have played for England?  On a similar note how many players have played for England who weren�t born in England?  I can think of Owen Hargreaves, Graeme Le Saux, John Barnes and Matt Le Tissier so far.

A from CG:  Fanny Walden stood at 5'2 in 1914 and 1922 - so not quite as tall as Wright-Phillips.

As for the foreign born players - the list is actually extensive, and does require a whole page devoted to it in the website. Which shall follow shortly, I promise....
but to add to your list, there are the like of Terry Butcher and John Barnes... I'll let you know when I get the list up.

Q from Jimmy, location not given, 12 August 2006:  I noticed that you had player numbers and Owen Hargreaves is 1111 to play for England.  I was wondering who is number 1?

A from CG:  All our player numbers are in no way official - they are just a way of keeping tabs on how many players have played for England.  Although Owen Hargreaves was given number 1111, he was indeed the 1111th different player to play.  The coveted number one belongs to Robert C. Barker, only because his name heads the first ever team sheet.  i.e. he was the starting goalkeeper.  All players on 30 November 1872 should be credited as the first player to appear for England.  But to keep our numbers, or codes if you like, they have been given 1-11.

Q from Maurice Kuntzelaers, from Netherlands, 12 August 2006: I just took a look at your site! It looks fantastic.  It seems you know almost everything about the National team from England.  I have a question, and was hoping you could help me!  On the picture I�ve send, you�ll see Bobby Charlton who has to wait to take a corner kick because a dog is standing on the field.  Can you tell me in which match this happened?  Some people say it was England-Brazil in the World Cup 1962, but I think England was playing in white shirt that game!

A from CG: It is correct that a dog interrupted the World Cup game between England & Brazil. And you are correct in knowing that England wore white through this game.

A from GI: I believe this is from the 1962 World Cup, but the group game against Bulgaria. It looks as if the Chileans had a problem with stray dogs. The more famous incident came in the quarter-final against Brazil, when Jimmy Greaves managed to grab hold of a dog which was running around the pitch.

A from Selwyn Rowley: the photo was from the 1962 world cup game v Bulgaria. England wore an all red strip, Bulgaria all white, the game was by all accounts a dire 0-0
affair in which the dog actually got the player of the game award....

Q from Chris Davey, aged 11, location not given, 12 August 2006: Could you tell me if a gentleman named Cecil Vernon Winfield-Stratford ever played for England in a full international?

A from CG:  Yes he did,  Cecil Vernon Wingfield-Stratford (note the spelling!) played as outside-left for England against Scotland, 3 March 1877.  It was his only ever appearance in an England shirt.

Q from William Prendergast, location not given, 29 July 2006:  I know Alan Shearer missed a penalty for England, but who was it against?

A from CG:  Shearer missed his penalty against Poland, 31 May 1997 - He hit the post.  There is a full list of post-war penalty misses here. 

CG