Youth Section Chairman Llew Walker has taken advantage of the football vacuum to publish his book on 15 Feb through Pitch Publishing.

The son of a Scottish plantation owner and a free woman of colour, Andrew Watson was provided for by his wealthy father. Receiving a first-class education in English public schools, he would later reject university to become a footballer in Glasgow. Schooled by the most advanced practitioners of the game at that time, he became one of the best footballers in Glasgow and captained Scotland’s invincible national team.

He played for the greatest clubs of the day on both sides of the border and as a ‘Scottish professor’, brought his talent to England and shared his knowledge with the Southern amateurs, including the Corinthians, helping the game evolve from a public-school pastime to a national obsession. He played alongside and educated many who would represent the English national team, changing the game forever.

​Over 100 years later, he was rediscovered in an old photograph, and after years of research, his achievements were finally recognised.

The book has already received glowing reviews. The FootyBlog describes it as fantastic... "The author is also fantastic in describing the early beginnings of football and what it was like during this era. He makes the formations, the events and styles of play accessible to the modern football fan. This is a fantastic resource detailing the life of a man that really helped shape the game along with his contemporaries."

A feature has also been published on FIFA's official website which can be read here.

You can purchase the book from all good bookshops, online stores and the publishers here.

We are currently seeking any memorabilia or photographs that members or supporters may have from the 1950s or early ‘60s for a heritage project covering the Corinthian-Casuals in the post-war era.

Our intention is to create an online archive and exhibition space that will enable us to permanently house club memorabilia for future generations. The internet allows us to present the club’s history in fresh and exciting ways and bring the story to football supporters of all ages around the world.

We recently won a £3,000 grant from TownsWeb Archiving, a company who scan documents, photographs and other published materials to create detailed digital versions that can be stored on the internet forever. We hope to use the grant to kick-start the process of archiving historic programmes, newsletters and photographs, which can form the centre-pieces of exhibitions.

We're beginning this process by seeking to borrow the artefacts that our members and supporters have from the 1950s and ‘60s, so that we can scan them digitally and curate an online exhibition to honour that important period in our history. If all goes well, we may even be able to curate a physical exhibition in a local museum space as well.

This is the period in which we returned to The Oval, played in the FA Amateur Cup final at Wembley, revived the Sheriff of London Shield fixture against Arsenal and Watford, and reached the FA Cup first round.

If you have any memorabilia from this era, please contact Dominic Bliss at dominic.bliss@ccfcltd.co.uk, or by calling a committee member if you prefer to use the phone.

​Frank Palmer has sadly passed away aged 91.

Born on 10 Sept 1929 he played for Corinthian-Casuals in the 1950s, a total of 92 First team matches, scoring 37 goals. His best season was 1956/7 when he played 31 games with 15 goals. That season he was also in the C-C team that lost to Wycombe Wanderers in the Amateur Cup Semi Final at Highbury. He went on tours to Libya (pic below - Frank Palmer, front row 3rd from right, brother David is directly behind him), Belgium and Jersey and played in the Reserves throughout 1959/9. His older brother David also played for the club but died some years earlier. Frank was the manager for a cork manufacturing company for most of his working life.

His daughter Carol wrote: “He was the youngest of seven brothers. He met our mother Rene when he was age 10 at school. They were inseparable until her death at the age of 76. He did National Service in the RAF but avoided the Berlin Airlift because he was picked at centre forward for the RAF team.

“My cousin Leonard remembers dad and his brother David taking the field at the Oval side by side, except that dad was playing for Ilford and David was playing for C-C. They were pitted against each other but managed to play the whole match without tackling each other. It was after this match that dad was invited to join Corinthian-Casuals.

“Leonard also tells me that during the Libya tour dad kicked the ball so hard that it broke the bar. He brought a couple of small pieces back with him to prove it.

“After football he played tennis for several clubs and won various championships, including singles, men’s doubles and mixed pairs with our Mum. When he gave up tennis he took up bowls and again won several club championships. A highlight was when he won the National over 55’s Men’s doubles with his partner Keith Broughton.

“Dad had 5 grandchildren and was very proud of them all, but especially my son Tom and Ian’s son Max who both followed in his footsteps and play football. Ian’s second son Zac plays rugby.

“Dad was lucky enough to enjoy good health in his 90’s and was fiercely independent to the end”

Guy Shuttleworth, the last surviving member of Corinthian-Casuals Amateur Cup Final side of 1956, has died at the age of 94.

Guy was born on 6th November 1926 at Revidge, Blackburn in Lancashire. He went to Queen Elizabeth’s G.S. in Blackburn then on to King’s College, Cambridge, where he played three seasons for the University.

In December 1945 he played his first game for Cambridge in a 1 – 1 draw. In 1946 he was right half in a 3 – 2 win. It was the first Varsity match to be televised by the BBC with JRB Moulsdale, a former Corinthian, as commentator. In 1947 Guy Shuttleworth captained Cambridge to a 2 – 0 win at Dulwich.

In 1948 Shuttleworth, along with Doug Insole and Derek Abbott, played for the English Universities X1 against Southern Universities. In 1949 he also won an England Amateur cap in the 3 – 1 win against Wales at Llanelli.

In 1948/9 he was captain of Pegasus, the Combined Oxford and Cambridge side, in the club’s first season.

On 9 October 1948 he made his debut for Corinthian-Casuals at right half in an Isthmian League match against Wimbledon. On 4th October 1949 he captained a Corinthian XI against an FA XI in the first match at the Oval for 56 years.

On 7th February 1953 he played for Corinthian-Casuals in the much remembered 3rd Round FA Amateur Cup match again Pegasus in front of a 12,000 crowd. Pegasus won 1 – 0. A live issue was the rivalry between the hosts and Pegasus to attract players from Oxford and Cambridge.

In the 1956 Amateur Cup Final he played right half in the famous I – I draw at Wembley against Bishop Auckland in front of 80,000. He also played in the replay at Middlesbrough which Bishop Auckland won 4 – 1.

On 9th May 1967 at Dulwich Hamlet, the club organised a match between the Cor-Cas ‘56 and the Bishop Auckland ‘56 team. Eight of the Cup Final team at Wembley took part, including Guy, who travelled down from York. The other three players - Gerry Alexander (residing in Jamaica), John Sanders (deceased), Gerry Citron (who was no longer a club member) - were replaced by John Dutchman, Jimmy Platt, and Dave Palmer.

Cor-Cas ‘1956 won the match by 4 goals to 1, thus reversing the Amateur Cup Final result at Middlesbrough. Dutchman (a hat trick) and Insole scored the goals. This was Guy’s last match for the club.

Altogether he played 244 First Team games for Corinthian-Casuals, scoring 9 goals. He also went on 6 tours from the Channel Islands to Libya.

Club President Micky Stewart who played with him during some of those years remembers Guy as “a very good marker, more defensive that attacking, and a 100% hard worker”.

At Cambridge, Guy also won cricket blues for three years as a middle order batsman and excellent fielder at cover point. He scored 244 runs in his 25 matches, with a best score of 96 against Sussex at Hove, sharing a 6th wicker partnership of 171 runs with his captain, Doug Insole. He played Minor County cricket for Lancashire’s 2nd XI during for those years, 1946, 1947 and 1948.

He taught for most of his life, first at Mill Hill School until 1957, then at St Peter’s School, York until he retired. At both schools he coached cricket and, perhaps surprisingly, rugby. He died at Eastbourne in Sussex on 20th January. The club would like to send all our sympathy and support to his wife Tanya and to his two children.

A post script: Guy’s grandson Ben Chilwell, son of his daughter, plays professional football for Chelsea and was first capped by England in 2018.