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'Charles Wreford-Brown' (9 October 1866 – 26 November 1951) is usually credited with inventing the word ''soccer'' as an abbreviation for ''association football'', this being a prominent use of the so-called "Oxford -er".
He was born in Bristol and attended Charterhouse School before going on to Oriel College, Oxford University. He was a keen amateur sportsman and played both cricket and football for the university. He later played cricket for Gloucestershire and football for the Old Carthusians and Corinthians, and captained the English national football team twice in 1894 and 1895.
Steve Bloomer, one of the leading "players" (professionals) on the England team, recorded in a memoir that, as captain, the patrician Wreford-Brown on one occasion took to the field with a deep pocket in his shorts filled with gold sovereigns and pressed one of the coins into the hand of each professional goalscorer after the man had netted.
He was first appointed to the council of The Football Association to represent the Old Carthusians in 1892 and later served as the representative of Oxford University. He served as a vice-president of the FA from 1941 until his death in 1951.
He was also a keen chess player. He took part in the 1933 British Chess Championship, though he had to drop out through illness after two rounds (he had won the first game and drawn the second).

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References

★ Association Football, , Ernest, Needham, Soccer Books, 2003, ISBN 1-86223-083-8

★ Steve Bloomer: The Story of Football's First Superstar, , Peter, Seddon, Breedon Books, 1999, ISBN 1-85983-146-X

External links

★ Statue of Charles Wreford-Brown