E. Farquhar Buzzard, or to give him his full name, Sir Edward Farquhar Buzzard, 1st Baronet, KCVO, FRCP, may not be one of the most often-celebrated Corinthians of his time, given he played for the club during its golden age in the 1890s. However, Buzzard had one of the most extraordinary off-field stories of any player to have represented this great club.

A renowned medical mind, he was not only Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford, but also served as physician to three reigning British monarchs. He was Physician-in-Ordinary to King George V between 1932 and 1936, and then to Edward VIII in 1936, before being made Extra Physician to George VI in 1937.

Between 1936 and 1937, he was also president of the British Medical Association, gaining the rank of Honorary Colonel in the service of the Royal Army Medical Corps and being made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in the 1927 Birthday Honours.

All those achievements, however, pale in significance as far as our audience is concerned next to his 20 games for the Corinthians, in which he scored twice, and a further 20 appearances for the Casuals, for whom he totalled four goals.

Buzzard’s talent had shown itself early, as he was a First XI player at Charterhouse school, where he played as a forward and was renowned for his goalscoring prowess, netting four times as his team managed eight in a crunch game against old rivals Westminster in 1890.

Then, at Oxford University, representing Magdalen College, he switched to full-back as his side won the Inter-Collegiate Cup three years in a row during his time there. They were so dominant that, in the 1893 season, the Magdalen first and second XIs scored a combined 102 goals and conceded just six. According to A.M. Cooke’s biography of Buzzard, the team’s celebrations after one of those cup successes were “of such character that the dons were moved to take action,” threatening to send down the team officials if they repeated the feat and celebrated in any such fashion again.

As one of the triumphant college’s best players, Buzzard – nicknamed “The Bird” for obvious reasons – was also part of the Oxford University team, showing his versatility further by playing half-back, in sides that beat Cambridge in the varsity match. Alongside him in that dominant Oxford team were fellow Corinthian legends C.B. Fry, G.O. Smith and G.B. Raikes, all of them among the greatest amateur footballers of their time.

He managed to get his mate Fry into deep water on one occasion, persuading him to pose nude in various athletic poses to portray muscular structure. The photos later appeared in a book, much to the shock of Fry’s sister’s friend, who came across images of her acquaintance unclothed in the window of a bookshop in Regent Street.

After graduating, Buzzard played for Old Carthusians at the peak of their powers, as they reached 11 major finals (Amateur Cup, Charity Cup and London Cup) between 1892 and 1897. In one of those finals, he chose to represent his old boys against the Casuals in the London Senior Cup final in 1896 and finished up on the winning side.

Most of his games for Corinthian came in the 1894/95 season, when he was a regular at left-half and scored in a thrilling 5-4 defeat to Aston Villa. Among the other games he played was the traditional New Year’s match against Queen’s Park in Glasgow, where once again his team lost a high-scoring game by the odd goal, going down 3-2 in front of 10,000 people. That formed part of the team’s tour of the north and Scotland that winter, in which Buzzard played a key part, scoring in a 6-3 win over Dundee Wanderers. One game – a 2-2 draw at Aberdeen – was played in six inches of snow.

For all his exploits in varsity and amateur club football, however, Buzzard missed out on an England cap, which comes as a surprise when you consider his time with Corinthian overlapped the period in which they provided the entire England XI. He came agonisingly close on one occasion when the player he was slated to stand in for rose from his sickbed, insisting on playing.

Buzzard was an all-round sportsman, earning an Oxford blue in lawn tennis, and continued to wield his racket into his 70s, often defeating opponents half his age at tennis and squash. He entered the singles draw of the local tennis tournament near his home in Godalming well into advanced age.

In all sports, he always played “with intense concentration, because his aim was to win.” After seeing his son doing handstands in the outfield of a family cricket match, he reportedly returned home looking “very glum”, saying, “To think that I should have a son not keen on games.”

He needn’t have worried, as that son, Anthony Wass Buzzard, became an accomplished sportsman and played tennis at Wimbledon, including doubles alongside his younger brother, Teddy. Anthony’s daughter, Gillian, who helped us with our research for this article, competed at Junior Wimbledon and represented London University on the tennis court.

Footballing prowess seems to have been limited to the one generation, though, as Farquhar’s younger brother, Archie Dougan Buzzard, also played a handful of games for Casuals.

Farquhar strongly believed that team sports were good for the mind as well as the body, pointing out that they put players into a constantly changing environment in which they were expected to react quickly and precisely to the challenges they faced. It was, he said, good training for life to “make rapid decisions in rapidly changing surroundings.”

Buzzard passed away in December 1945, at the age of 73.

Words: Dominic Bliss

Corinthian-Casuals and Epsom & Ewell have decided to end our groundshare agreement at King George’s Field at the conclusion of the 2024/25 season.

Unfortunately, regular use of the pitch by both clubs’ men’s first teams, as well as Corinthian-Casuals’ Under-18s side, has taken too much of a toll on the playing surface. Consequently, we have come to the difficult decision to end the groundshare after one season.

All at Corinthian-Casuals would like to thank Epsom & Ewell for their help in making improvements to the ground this season and wish them the very best in their search for a new home.

We look forward to the remainder of the current campaign, in particular the game between our two clubs on Saturday 8 February.

Corinthian-Casuals will not be seeking another groundshare arrangement for the foreseeable future.

Our secret weapon from Brazil, Diogo da Silva is a lifelong Corinthians supporter who arrived in England last summer after previously playing in Albania and Kosovo.

The 29-year-old has been a revelation this season, top scoring for us with 14 goals to date from his role behind the striker. As a boyhood Corinthians fan, he is living his dream every time he pulls on the shirt. Here’s what he had to say about his first season in Casuals colour so far…

Diogo, how much are you enjoying this season and your performances?
I am very happy with my performance at Corinthian-Casuals, being able to score goals and play well.

What has been your journey in football?
I started playing for my hometown club, Sampaio Correia in Maranhão, then I went to Atlético Mineiro in Belo Horizonte and then I went to Audax in Rio de Janeiro. Soon after, I moved to Albania, where I played for Dinamo Tirana for three years before I went to Kosovo and played for Drenica KF. When my contract ended, I came to London.

How did you come to join Corinthian-Casuals?
Just two days after I arrived in London, some friends invited me to play in a football tournament in Epsom, where I met our coach, Mu Maan. He saw me playing and invited me to come to Corinthian-Casuals.

Do you know much about our historical connection to Brazilian football?
I know a little bit. The Corinthians were one of the most responsible for the spread of football in Latin America, and so Sport Club Corinthians Paulista was formed with the intention of showing that the new club could become as big and well-known as the English Corinthians.

How do you like it here?
I really like this team, I’m a die-hard Corinthians fan, and everyone in my family is Corinthians, so I play with all my heart to win wearing this jersey.

What level were you playing in Brazil and Albania, and how did it compare to this level of English football?
In Brazil the level is very high, many players have experience. In Albania and in English football, however, there is a lot of physical contact. I leave all the games feeling sore, but I have a bit of quality where it’s better for me to be able to help the team. In English football, I’ve learned that you have to be more dynamic, you have to keep the ball as little as possible, and you have to be quicker.

What are your hopes for the future with this club?
My wish for this club is to become champions and move up to the next division.

Interview: Dominic Bliss
Images: Stuart Tree