Colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 Sir Francis Arthur Marindin, KCMG

Order of St Michael and St George

The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....

 (1 May 1838 – 21 April 1900) served with the Royal Engineers

Royal Engineers

The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....

 and was a key figure in the early development of association football. He was later knighted for his work in public services.

Born in Weymouth, Dorset, he was the second son of the Rev. S. Marindin of Chesterton, Shropshire. He was educated at Eton College

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

Marindin spent active service in the Crimean War

Crimean War

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

 (1854–56) and was a member of the Board of Trade Railway Inspectorate, an occupation he continued after he left the Corps

Corps

A corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...

. He is credited with having founded the Royal Engineers Football team

Royal Engineers A.F.C.

The Royal Engineers Association Football Club is an association football team representing the Corps of Royal Engineers, the "Sappers", of the British Army. In the 1870s it was one of the strongest sides in English football, winning the FA Cup in 1875 and being Cup Finalists in four of the first...

 in 1869, which went on to win the FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

 in 1875. The club had been founded in at least 1863 and is notable as the first side to exploit modern teamwork and passing tactings

Combination Game

The Combination Game was a style of association football based around team work and cooperation. It would gradually favour the passing of the ball between players over individual dribbling skills which had been a notable feature of early Association games. It developed from "scientific" football...

. He retired from the Royal Engineers in 1879 at the rank of Major

Major

Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

.

As a football player, Marindin played in the first FA Cup Final in 1872

FA Cup Final 1872

Match rules:90 minutes normal time.30 minutes extra-time if scores are level, at captains' discretion.Replay if scores still level.No substitutes.-Post-match:...

, which the Royal Engineers' team lost. At the time, Marindin held the rank of Captain

Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)

Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...

. The team lost the final again in 1874, but won it in 1875, each time with Marindin in the XI.

Marindin become the President of the Football Association

The Football Association

The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...

 in 1874 and served in that capacity until 1879. As a referee he took charge of the 1880 FA Cup final and those from 1884 to 1890. This period included a replay at Derbyshire County Cricket Club

Derbyshire County Cricket Club

Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...

's Racecourse Ground in 1886, the first time an FA Cup Final had been played outside London. In his last final, crowds invaded the pitch and soldiers had to clear the field. He was considered "one of the outstanding referees who really knows the rules". He was widely known simply as "The Major".

He became an Inspecting Officer for the Board of Trade in 1875, rising to Senior Inspector of Railways in 1895. His work in this regard involved travelling the country to test and inspect new works on passenger railways to ensure their safety before they could be used. In describing this period of his life, his obituary in The Times of 24 April 1900, described him as "plain speaking, coupled with a complete mastery of his subject", making the point that the railway companies of the time knew that "[his office] was not likely to allow irregularities to remain long unnoticed". In 1899 he submitted a report on accidents on railway workers on which a new Act of Parliament concerning rail safety was based, and throughout the 1890s was responsible for a host of improvements in the working practices of Britain's railways.

He helped develop London's new electrical lighting system and was knighted in 1897. He died aged 61 on 21 April 1900 at home at Hans Crescent, London S.W.

External links

• Royal Engineers Museum When the Royal Engineers won the FA Cup 1875
• Royal Engineers Museum Engineers in a Civic role
• Royal Engineers Museum History of Sports in the Royal Engineers