FROM RUBBER AND LACE, GREAT TEAMS ARE MADE

A random book opening today (The Fathers of Football by Keith Baker-a Christmas present) led me to Alfred Ormonde Edwards, who was born in 1850 in Llanfair, Shropshire. If you look back in the blogs to Saturday 16th January, I watched Porthmadog comfortably beat Llanfair United  in the Huw Gray Welsh Alliance. It is too much of a coincidence that this was Edwards' home village because there are at least twelve "Llanfairs" listed in the UK, Edwards was born in the Shropshire Llanfair, whereas there are others including "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch".

In the 1870s, our Alfred left England for Italy and eventually established a partnership with the Pirelli Tyre industry (avid readers will remember I wrote about Kettering Tyres recently). With the need for rubber goods, wire coating and then the growth of the car and bicycle industry, Edwards made a fortune and built a factory on the edge of Milan. Milan was booming too and so Edwards soon became part of Milan society and the British Government recognised his value as an entrepreneur, so he became Her Majesty's vice-consul in 1893. The Genoa Club had also been formed around this time.

Edwards built tourist resorts on the lsle of Ischia and gained a reputation as a father figure, "Papa Edwards". He helped form a sporting club for the many international workers that were attracted to Italy. The Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club was founded to entertain the locals, covering both seasons! Edwards remained as President of the club until 1909. He eventually returned to Southampton with Pirelli's interests at heart and opened a factory there.

Another young Briton making his way in Italy, was Herbert Kilpin, a lace maker and former Nottingham Olympic (a local club in Nottingham not the great sporting festival!) footballer. By 1891, aged 21,  he was in Turin, playing for Internazionale Torino, reputedly the first club in Italy (the Genoans would argue not). Edoardo Bosio, an English merchant, had formed the Turin club in 1887. Kilpin brought the English style of play to the club, something that was alien to the Italians, who originally played football in a gymnastic style, dandy like and seemingly only doing it for fresh air purposes! Kilpin introduce the English method.

He worked in the lace industry, there but having tried to generate a winning philosophy in the Turin club, he moved to Milan in 1897 and by 1906 the club, AC Milan, won its first league title. The original pitch, Trotter Field, on Milan's race course, was located in the north-east of the city, where now Mussolini's Central Station stands. Nearby was a local technical college from which enthusiastic students came and joined in. By 1900 the club's first competitive game took place, the team containing six British players. A few months later they beat Juventus winning the "King's Medal" trophy, presented by King Umberto I. From that time onward, Milan never looked back. Their colours were chosen by the club founders; "Red to recall the devil and Black to invoke fear".

Whilst these Englishmen have great memorials in Italy, they are barely mentioned in England. The FA's archives state: "Genoa's greatest rival was the Milan Cricket and Football Club, now the great AC Milan. Its first president was a British businessman, "Papa" Edwards !!"

Where have we heard that before?