All at Corinthian-Casuals Football Club were saddened to hear the news that John Swannell, our former goalkeeper, passed away on Wednesday.

Swannell made 111 appearances for Casuals between 1960 and 1963 and went on to establish himself as one of the great amateur players of his day, winning the FA Amateur Cup twice with Hendon and later enjoying famous FA Cup upsets with Leatherhead. Over the course of his playing days, he earned 61 England amateur caps and took part in two Olympic Games qualifying campaigns with the Great Britain side, in 1968 and 1972.
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Corinthian-Casuals historian Norman Epps remembers Swannell as “a brilliant goalkeeper, an outstanding shot-saver,” who joined the club after starring in varsity football during his time at Manchester University. He arrived here when we were playing home games at The Oval and established himself as first-choice goalkeeper while Brian Wakefield was away, firstly with the Great British Olympic squad in Rome, and then on tour with Middlesex Wanderers in Nigeria.

The young keeper impressed during Wakefield’s absence and made the jersey his own, remaining in goal for three seasons. In front of him at centre-half was the towering presence of Chris Joy, who we also sadly lost recently.

In 1963, he moved to Hendon, who saw the best of an outstanding goalkeeper. Swannell won several honours during his time with the Middlesex outfit and became the regular England amateur custodian, taking over from the late Mike Pinner.
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Swannell passed away on 17 January, at the age of 84, and will be remembered by all who saw him play as one of the top goalkeepers in the amateur game. In its own tribute to him, the Isthmian League declared, “If we were to create an all-time Isthmian XI, there would be very few who would dare to challenge John for the keeper’s jersey.”

 
This Friday will mark the 100th anniversary of one of the most important victories in the history of our club. On 12 January 1924, the Corinthians took on Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup first round in front of 20,000 people at the Crystal Palace. Our opponents were not only professionals, but also a top-flight outfit who would go on to finish eighth in the First Division at the end of the season.

By contrast, the Corinthians had never played in competitive league football, opting only to play in exhibition matches or charity trophies until the previous season, when we had entered the FA Cup for the first time, losing to Brighton in the first round after two replays.

It was a strong Corinth side, however. Ben Howard Baker was one of the best goalkeepers in the country, earning two England caps, and turned out for Chelsea in league football when he wasn’t playing for Corinthian. He was a great all-round sportsman and held the British high jump record for years as well as competing in two Olympic Games. He even entered qualifying for the Wimbledon tennis championships a few years later.

In front of him was another Chelsea player, Alfred Bower, who holds the distinction of being the last amateur to have captained the England team, while at centre-half that day was Claude Ashton, who played first-class cricket and played almost every position for the Corinthians, including goalkeeper and centre-forward.

Unsurprisingly, there was great interest in this game, which must have been considered the tie of the round, especially when you consider that the very earliest of Corinthian golden teams had made their name with a momentous 8-1 win over then FA Cup-holders Blackburn Rovers back in December 1884.