When people talk about English clubs being worldwide brands, they think of the big Premier League giants, such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City or Arsenal.
However, there is an English football club that was renowned worldwide far before the advent of the Premier League and its branding machine.
Inspired Brazil’s Corinthians
Most football fans are aware of the presence of Brazilian giants Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, better known as Corinthians. Like many foreign clubs, their presence is heavily influenced by the English game.
Five railway workers established the club, inspired by a touring amateur English football club called Corinthian Football Club. The Sao Paulo club has since gone on to win the Brazilian Serie A title seven times, among other trophies.
Origins of Corinthian Football Club
Formed in 1882 by Nicholas Lane Jackson, the Assistant Secretary of the Football Association, Corinthian Football Club were a football team that championed sportsmanship and fair play. They also stuck firmly to its amateur roots, playing the game for the love of it, not financial gain. That meant that no members of staff, including the players, were paid.
One of the Corinthians’ ideas was that a player wouldn’t deliberately foul one of their opponents, as it wasn’t gentlemanly. When they conceded a penalty, for instance, their goalkeeper would step aside and allow his opponent an empty goal to score into.
If they were awarded a penalty, the team’s captain would deliberately kick the ball over the crossbar and out of play, resulting in a goal kick for the opposition.
The Brazilian Club Corinthians is not the only club believed to have been inspired by the club from the English capital. Spanish giants Real Madrid reportedly took their all-white kit from the Corinthian Football Club.
Played a significant role in establishing football in England
When Corinthian was founded, football was still amateur in England, and clubs from the south of England dominated the game.
In the late 1880s, the club were a good source of players for the England national team. In fact, for nearly a decade, the Three Lions squad was made up of a majority of Corinthian players.
When England faced Wales in friendly games in 1894 and 1895, all of their players came from the Corinthian Football Club. This was a unique achievement, as no club has ever done that before or since.
The club’s amateur status prevented Corinthian from playing in any competition. Originally, they only played friendly games. However, between 1898 and 1907, they played in the Sheriff of London Charity Shield on nine occasions, winning the competition three times.
Had they decided to play in official competitions, Corinthian could have been major contenders for honours. Proof of this came in 1884 when they defeated Blackburn Rovers 8-1 in a friendly game. Just before the encounter, Rovers had defeated Queens Park in the FA Cup final.
During that era, Corinthian was considered to be the only club that could go toe-to-toe with English football’s first ‘Invincibles’, Preston North End.
In the 1904 Sheriff of London Charity Shield, the amateur side recorded another notable victory as they hammered Bury 10-3. The result was an incredible one, as Bury had hammered Derby County 6-0 in the FA Cup final of the previous season.
By the 1920s, the team was a shadow of the team of the early 1900s. However, Corinthian began playing in the FA Cup in season 1922/23. They also competed in the FA Charity Shield in 1927 but suffered a 2-1 defeat against Cardiff City at Stamford Bridge.
The team’s slight demise resulted from a dispute with the FA in 1907. Corinthian pledged to stay loyal to the Amateur Football Alliance, which led to their ban from playing any top English opponents.
However, the decision led to Corinthian touring the world and playing friendly games against foreign opponents. They were reportedly the first football club to tour outside of Europe, and their tours are believed to have helped football grow immensely in the countries they visited.
On their tours, they visited South Africa, Canada, the United States, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Denmark, Holland, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Brazil, Ireland, Jamaica and Germany, playing 72 games. In 1914, the club and the FA ended their dispute, and the team could once again face top English opposition.
A merger with Casuals and present-day club
In 1939, Corinthians Football Club merged with another capital club, Casuals F.C. and became known as Corinthian-Casuals F.C. The new club has maintained its proud amateur tradition over the years, although they are in the National League System.
At the time of writing, Corinthian-Casuals F.C. resides in the Combined Counties League Premier Division South, which is step five of the National League system.
The club has never forgotten its roots, though, with regular tours in the last half a century, including visits to Brazil to face the now-renowned Corinthians Paulista on several occasions.
With finances difficult at their level, the club has sold various commemorative clothing items over the years and even had its own clothing brand.
The current club is a million miles from its humble beginnings., but the fact that despite the passage of time, the club has tried to stick to their original ethos of playing for the love of the game and amateur values is a refreshing change in a modern game that is not always so wholesome.
nonleaguefanatic
