WHY ROYAL GOLF COURSES ARE "ROYAL".

Lord Arthur Kinnaird was born in 1847 and unfortunately as an FA administrator, died before the new Wembley was opened in 1923. Born in Kensington, his father, Lord Kinnaird, and mother were Scottish, having a home in the family seat in Perthshire. He went to school in Cheam, then at Eton College and after at Trinity College, Cambridge University, becoming a banker for a bank that eventually founded Barclays Bank.

Kinnaird played in the second FA Cup Final in 1873, for the Wanderers, as an outfield player (sometimes in goal) and then took part in a further 8 finals, either for the Wanderers or the Old Etonians. Indeed he played in the 1881 final against the Old Carthusians, (old boys of Charterhouse School) losing 0-3.

He played in the "unofficial" England internationals v Scotland in the early 1880s and also played for county sides and The North!
Kinnaird later joined the FA administration  and refereed (umpired in those days) two FA Cup Finals in 1887 and 1889.

Like all heroes in the Victorian period he was multi-talented, sprinting for his school, getting a Cambridge Blue at Real Tennis and he also represented Cambridge at Fives, swimming, enjoyed international canoeing and was a member of the MCC.
He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a member of the House of Lords, a JP, president of the YMCA and had various roles in the Royal Engineers and the Church of Scotland. He was of course a genuine amateur footballer....mind you he could afford to keep that status.

On July 20th 1885, the Football Association permitted "professionalism", something Kinnaird would have voted for. Before that many clubs made "payments" to some of their players to maintain the club's competitiveness. The original FA Rules formed in 1863 insisted on clubs abiding by the laws of the amateur FA code.

The Perth Golfing Society, Scotland, was founded in 1824 during a gathering of men at the local Salutation Inn. Kinnaird was not born then.
Its sixth captain was Lord Arthur Kinnaird, who, using his contact with Royalty, persuaded King William IV to give the golf society his patronage and so the golf club gained the status of the Royal Perth Golfing Society, the first in the country to gain this honour.

Various clubs have gained the Royal patronage; The Royal and Ancient, St Andrews in 1834, Royal Port Rush founded in 1888 was dubbed "Royal" in 1892. The Royal North Devon was honoured in 1864 and various clubs abroad in Australia, in Zimbabwe, the Czech Republic, Wales and of course England eg Liverpool 1871 have gained the honour! There are 66 clubs bearing the Royal title.

Just to get another sport into this Blog, I heard that over arm bowling in cricket was first used officially on this day, some time ago...anyone know the exact date?