Down in the ninth tier of the English football pyramid in the suburban sprawl of south-west London, you’ll find one of the most influential and significant clubs in the history of the game. Corinthian-Casuals may now play in the Combined Counties League Premier Division South competing with other London orbital clubs like Tooting & Mitcham United and AFC Whyteleafe, but this is the club that inspired Real Madrid to wear white, spawned a Brazilian namesake, and on two occasions supplied the entire XI of the England national side.
While the club’s peak was before World War I, its legacy is huge, not least in Brazil. Here’s why the club matters and how the Brazilian connection provides a unique atmosphere in the ninth tier of English football.
A brief history of Corinthian FC
In the early 1880s, England had lost six games in a row to a Scotland side built around the country’s pioneer club, Queen’s Park. Nicholas ‘Pa’ Jackson had had enough. Jackson wanted to create a side built on the best amateur players of the time and resist the prevailing wind of professionalism. In 1882, he founded Corinthian Football Club. A year later, a sister club called Casuals was established to develop players.
By the end of the decade, the England national side was loaded with Corinthians who collectively, were the only side to beat Preston North End’s double-winning ‘Invincibles’. The club could boast alumni, including the great sporting all-rounder C.B. Fry and Charles Miller, who went on to become known as the ‘father of Brazilian football’. Twice in matches against Wales, Corinthian players made up the entire England XI. In 1904, Corinthians inflicted Manchester United with its biggest defeat – an 11-3 reverse.
The Corinthians didn’t just shine at home; they were the first great evangelists of the game abroad, touring South Africa, North America, Central Europe, Scandinavia, and – most famously – South America to showcase the game. Madrid Football Club – now Real Madrid – adopted Corinthians’ famous white shirt after two of the Spanish club’s founders saw the famous amateurs play at The Oval in London. The word ‘soccer’ is often attributed to Corinthian Charles Wreford Brown as an abbreviation of ‘Association’ football, but some argue it goes back further.
The Brazilian connection
Corinthians’ 1910 tour of South America inspired the creation of a club and created a bond between two clubs and two countries that has remained strong more than a century on.
Five railwaymen watched Corinthians dismantle São Paulo club AA das Palmeiras (not the same club as the current Paulista side, Palmeiras) by two goals to nil and were so impressed that they decided to create their own club the very next day. Sport Club Corinthians has won South America’s prime club competition, the Copa Libertadores once and the FIFA Club World Cup twice to go alongside its seven Brazilian championships and 30 state championships.
Like Madrid before them, Corinthians Paulista adopted white shirts in honour of the London amateur side that inspired them.
Celebrating Corinthians’ history
In January 2015, Corinthian-Casuals returned to São Paulo just over a century after a proposed second visit was cancelled due to the outbreak of World War I, which forced the team to turn around en route. The war took its toll on the club, which lost 22 players and by 1939 the club had merged with the Casuals.
The 2015 visit was captured in the film Brothers in Football. Thousands of Corinthians Paulista fans turned out at São Paulo airport for the welcome the ‘older brother’ team. In the ground, 26,000 spectators saw Corinthians Paulista win 3-0 against its inspirational namesake. The result was immaterial; it’s the relationship that counts. London’s Brazilian Corinthians fan base helps swell numbers at King George’s Field in Tolworth, and the Fiel Londres (London Loyal) supporters group brings a unique atmosphere with their drums and Brazilian songs.
Corinthian-Casuals also returned to Budapest in 2019 to take part in the Egri Erbstein Tournament, a competition inspired by a biography of the Hungarian-Jewish coach of the great Torino side of the 1940s. Corinthian-Casuals won the Corinthian Cup, which the club had donated on its 1904 visit. You can read more about Corinthians’ impact on world football in my first book, Origin Stories: The Pioneers Who Took Football to the World.
Visiting Corinthian-Casuals
After two back-to-back relegations, Corinthian-Casuals now play in the Combined Counties League Premier Division South – the ninth tier of the English pyramid – against clubs from the south-west London orbital area.
The King George’s Field ground is about a kilometre from Tolworth railway station, although to get to the ground involves walking alongside the busy A3. The ground has a good ‘getting here’ page to help visiting fans. My match was an entertaining 2-2 draw with Chipstead, which included a back-heeled goal (I’d not seen one of them live before) and a superb direct freekick. Great value for just £10.
Here’s a quick video I made, which includes an interview with Fiel Londres:
Here’s how to get to King George’s Field, Tolworth: