‘Around The World in 95 Games’

Some of you will remember I recently spotlighted Rob Cavallini’s definitive history of Dorking Wanderers. Uploading that blog reminded me of another book he published recently. It is the remarkable tale of the Islington Corinthians. He kindly forwarded me a press release and confirms that the book is still available.

The amazing story of the Islington Corinthians 1937/38 World Tour

It is September 1936 and your team has just beaten the Chinese Olympic team at Highbury; a casual invitation is extended by your visitors to visit China. What would you do? If you were Rotarian Tom Smith of the Rotary Club of Islington you would start planning a record breaking trip which would cross countries, continents and war zones.

The Islington Corinthians started life as a mid-week team whose primary function was to raise money for local charities. Smith and his new club were successful on and off the field of play and raised over £600 for charity at a time when you could buy a four bedroom house in Islington for £400. Ultimately though, they were destined to become football ambassadors for Britain when they embarked on the game’s first ever world tour, just two years before the outbreak of World War Two.

Smith, set about selecting a team from the cream of amateur clubs in the south and Midlands, raiding Barnet, Kingstonian, Dulwich Hamlet, Leyton, Moor Green, Sutton United, Nunhead, Tufnell Park and Wimbledon. The team travelled through Europe playing in Holland and Switzerland before progressing south to Egypt and then enjoyed six weeks in India, where they were attacked by the British Army during a visit to the Khyber Pass. 

After New Year, the tour got even more exotic with visits to Burma, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippine Islands and Hong Kong, when the players were taken on an opium den raid by the Hong Kong Police. Tom Smith’s vision was fulfilled when the Islington Corinthians reached war-torn China, although it did not all go to plan when several members of the team were arrested for curfew violation by the occupying Japanese troops, who released them only when they realised the team was due to play in Tokyo several days later.

The tourists travelled on to Hawaii and then America, where they were entertained by an endless list of Hollywood movie stars such as David Niven, before travelling across Canada and then sailing for England.   

Tom Smith’s team had travelled 40,000 miles and played 95 games in eight months, losing just eight games en route. The Islington Corinthians had succeeded when popular expectation was that they would return to England within a month, at a time when the world was on the brink of war. It was a truly remarkable achievement which has largely been ignored and now, for the first time, has been told with the memoirs and quotes of Tom Smith and captain Pat Clark and the marvellous surviving photographic record of player, Eddie Martin .

Around The World in 95 Games is available from Rob Cavallini priced £14.99 (plus £3 postage).  Available at www.dognduck.net

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