22 January 2018
The 1st XI played their inaugural fixture against Corinthian-Casuals. This is a club with a rich history dating back to 1882 and since this time they have been playing school fixtures against the likes of Charterhouse, Brighton College and Westminster and they continue these fixtures today. Even during WW2 the fixtures continued when all other football was suspended. The former Corinthian, Charles Wreford-Brown, who also captained the English National team in 1894 and famously coined the word “soccer” once summed up the ethos which the team espouse, saying: “Sometimes one is inclined to pay too much attention to the result of a game and not sufficient attention to the manner in which it has been played.”
The game was played on a very wet and heavy Waste Court and proved to be a match we might have preferred to play at Tilsley Park. We lost 1-0 in a game, which we could have won. It was very competitive, played with good Corinthian spirit and against a side with an average age of more than twice that of the Abingdon team, it was enjoyed by us all. We had our opportunities, including, Jamie Masters hitting the bar with a header from a corner late on and Sam Warren engineered a one on one with their goalie but was forced wide. At the other end Adam Bradley kept us in it with a world-class fingertip save from a close range header to force the ball onto the bar and over.
Next we play Magdalen School on Tuesday at 4:30pm and then on Saturday, we play a strong footballing school, Hampton. Both of these games are at Tilsley Park.
Joe Lilley
(Football Club Captain)
