British Football Firsts Trivia Quiz

Answer: He scored the first ever FA Cup goal

Jarvis Kenrick scored the first ever FA Cup goal in a 3-0 First Round tie win for Clapham Rovers against Upton Park on 11th November 1871. They were eliminated in the Second Round by Wanderers FC who went on to win the final, in 1872.

Answer: He played in the first ever FA Cup final and the first ever international match

Courtney-Welch played in the Wanderers team that beat the Royal Engineers 1-0 in the first ever FA Cup Final at Kennington Oval on 16th March 1872. He then played at full back for England in the first ever international football match, against Scotland at Hamilton Crescent, Partick on 30th November of that year.

He thus became the only player to take part in both the first FA Cup Final and the first international match.

Answer: Everton

Everton FC are nicknamed "The Toffeemen" because of their association with a confectionary company in the club's early days. Manchester United were founded in 1878 as Newton Heath FC, but were not a founder member of The Football League. Liverpool were founded in 1892 so didn't even exist in 1888. Stoke City were a founder member of The Football League, but were playing in Division 2 of the Football League when the Premier League was founded.

The two other clubs who were founder members of both the Football League and Premier League were Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa.

Answer: Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace, who changed their nickname from "The Glaziers" to "The Eagles" as part of a re-branding exercise in the 1970s, were relegated from the Premiership in 1992-93, 1994-95 and 1997-98; that is, three times in six seasons.

Answer: The first professional footballer to play for England

Jimmy Forrest was the first professional player to be selected to play for England, against Wales at Wrexham. England won 4-0 (Forrest didn't score).

Until 1939, England teams were selected by an FA Committee. Before the match in question, the selectors insisted on a strict amateur code for the England team. This, of course put England at a disadvantage against other teams, particularly the Scots who had no qualms about using professionals. The FA eventually bowed to pressure to introduce professionals into the England team. Although the number of professional players in the England team increased, the selectors continued to allow only amateurs to captain the team, for many more years.

Answer: Preston North End

Preston achieved the feat in 1889, beating Bootle 3-0, Grimsby Town 2-0, Birmingham St George's 2-0, West Bromwich Albion 1-0 and, in the Final, Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-0.

Bury repeated the feat when they won the cup in 1903. Their 6-0 defeat of Derby County in the final was a record cup final scoreline at the time.

The Wanderers were the first club to win the FA Cup in 1872 and Blackburn Rovers won the FA Cup three times in a row in 1884, 1885 and 1886.

Answer: Manchester City

Manchester City achieved this rather bittersweet record by being League Champions in 1936-37 season, and then finishing second last in 21st place, a relegation position, in 1937-38. Paradoxically, they scored more goals than any other team in the first division that season.

Arsenal were never relegated the year after they were First Division Champions. Huddersfield Town won their first league title in 1924 and then won it again... and again... in 1925 & 26. Bolton Wanderers were founder members of the Football League.

Answer: Charlton Athletic

"The Addicks" became the first club to achieve back-to-back promotions when they were Division 3 (South) champions in 1934-35. They were then promoted in second place (behind Manchester United) from Division 2 to Division 1 in 1935-36. That must have been one heck of a bunch of players because with almost no changes to the team, they nearly became league champions, finishing 2nd in the First Division in 1936-37 behind Manchester City, by only 3 points.

In the next two seasons they finished 4th and 3rd before World War II caused football to be cancelled until 1946. Who knows what that team might have achieved had the war not intervened.

Answer: Benfica

Real Madrid won the European Cup (the forerunner of the UEFA Champions League)for the first five seasons of its existence. Their winning streak was broken in 1961 by Benfica - The Eagles of Lisbon - who beat Barcelona 3-2 in the final in Berne, Switzerland. Barcelona would not win the European Cup until 1992.

Glasgow Celtic were the first British club to win the European Cup (in 1967), beating Inter Milan in the final in... Lisbon. Celtic's feat was all the more incredible because they won the competition with a team made up entirely of players from their own country, ten of whom were born in Glasgow itself. Given that today's top football clubs are a mix of multinational superstars, Celtic's feat of winning the competition with a team of home-grown players will probably never be replicated in the modern era.

Answer: He invented the word "soccer"

Although the story is believed to be apocryphal, it is said that, whilst at Oxford University, a group of friends one day asked him if he would like to join in a game of rugger (rugger being a common word for Rugby football) to which he is said to have replied "I'd rather play a game of soccer" and thus the loathsome word was born. As with "Rugger" being a shortening of Rugby Football, so "Soccer" is a shortening of Association, as in Association Football.

The word is despised by many football fans, particularly in Britain. Some British fans can get quite touchy about it. We take the view that football is a game whereby the ball is primarily propelled by the foot, not thrown or carried. Some like to point out too, that association football came first.

As for Wreford-Brown himself, he was a staunch believer in the nobility of amateurism in sport. He became Captain of the England football team, was a county cricketer and was one of the founding fathers of Corinthian FC, for whom he also played. Corinthian originally had an article in their club charter stated they existed solely for the purpose of providing players for the England national team, and that they would play only friendlies. They would take no part in any League or cup competition. (That rule was removed in the 1920s and they played in the FA Cup). Wreford-Brown had too many achievements in his lifetime to list here, but he did a great deal of selfless good work for the betterment of the game.

It is a shame that he is best (or should that be 'worst'?) remembered as the man who invented the word that so many British football fans abhor.