Dissolved c. 1940 | Founded 1932 | |
The Islington Corinthians Football Club were an English association football club, now defunct.
Islington Corinthians were founded in 1932 by Tom Smith, formerly of Tufnell Park, in order to raise money for local charities. The club progressed only ever playing mid-week football in the London Professional Mid Week League, where they competed against the reserve teams of clubs such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Fulham.
In 1936 the Islington Corinthians were selected to play the Chinese Olympic team in a friendly at Highbury, and this was the catalyst for a world tour. The tour spanned the 1937–38 football season and saw the club visit the Netherlands, Switzerland, Egypt, India, Burma, Malaya, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, China, Japan, Hawaii, the United States and Canada.
Their voyage saw the Islington Corinthians being attacked by the British Army in the Khyber Pass, going on opium den raids with the Hong Kong police and being entertained on Hollywood film sets by stars such as David Niven. The club, besides all this excitement also managed to play 95 games on their travels around the globe.
The Islington Corinthians did not survive World War II ; the club disappeared from view after 1940, when plans for a South American tour were cancelled due to world events.
In 1939, they toured to Iceland and were presented with copies of "Iceland Nature and Nation in Photographs" by two Icelandic football clubs: KR and Valur. The copy presented to Leonard Bradbury was sold in Reigate, Surrey in 2011.
Notable players
L.T. Huddle (Casuals), Bernard Joy (Arsenal, Corinthians, Casuals), Harry Lowe (Tottenham), Sonny Avery (Leyton), Leonard Bradbury (Moor Green), Jack Braithwaite (Barnet), Alec Buchanan (Barnet), Pat Clark (Leyton, Sutton United), George Dance (Moor Green), Cyril Longman (Kingstonian), Richard Manning (Clacton Town), Albert (Eddie) Martin (Tunbridge Wells Rangers, FC Antibes) John Miller (Tufnell Park, Dulwich Hamlet, Margate), William Miller (Dulwich Hamlet), George Pearce (Hoxton Manor), Bert Read (Nunhead), Johnny Sherwood (Reading, Maidenhead United, Crystal Palace, Aldershot), Dick Tarrant (Sutton United), Bill Whittaker (Kingstonian), Ted Wingfield (Romford), J.K. Wright (Yorkshire Amateurs, Wimbledon, Dulwich Hamlet)