The Islington Corinthians Football Club were an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 association football club, now defunct.

Islington Corinthians were founded in 1932 by Tom Smith, formerly of Tufnell Park, in order to raise money for local charities. The club progressed only ever playing mid-week football in the London Professional Mid Week League, where they competed against the reserve teams of clubs such as Arsenal

Arsenal F.C.

Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...

, Chelsea

Chelsea F.C.

Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...

 and Fulham

Fulham F.C.

Fulham Football Club is a professional English Premier League club based in southwest London Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, they play in the Premier League, their 11th current season...

.

In 1936 the Islington Corinthians were selected to play the Chinese Olympic team

China national football team

The China PR national football team is the national association football team of the People's Republic of China and is governed by the Chinese Football Association...

 in a friendly at Highbury

Arsenal Stadium

Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, North London, which was the home ground of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006...

, and this was the catalyst for a world tour. The tour spanned the 1937-38

1937-38 in English football

The 1937–38 season was the 63rd season of competitive football in England.-Overview:This season is notable as the reigning champions Manchester City became the only team to have won the League title one season then been relegated the next.-Honours:...

 football season and saw the club visit the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, India, Burma, Malaya

British Malaya

British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...

, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

, the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

Their voyage saw the Islington Corinthians being attacked by the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 in the Khyber Pass

Khyber Pass

The Khyber Pass, is a mountain pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.The Pass was an integral part of the ancient Silk Road. It is mentioned in the Bible as the "Pesh Habor," and it is one of the oldest known passes in the world....

, going on opium den

Opium den

An opium den was an establishment where opium was sold and smoked. Opium dens were prevalent in many parts of the world in the 19th century, most notably China, Southeast Asia, North America and France...

 raids with the Hong Kong police and being entertained on Hollywood film sets by stars such as David Niven

David Niven

James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...

. The club, besides all this excitement also managed to play 95 games on their travels around the globe.

The Islington Corinthians did not survive World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

; the club disappeared from view after 1940, when plans for a South American tour were cancelled due to world events.

In 1939, they toured to Iceland and were presented with copies of "Iceland Nature and Nation in Photographs" by two Icelandic football clubs: KR and Valur. The copy presented to Leonard Bradbury was sold in Reigate, Surrey in 2011.

Notable players

L.T. Huddle (Casuals),
Bernard Joy (Arsenal, Corinthians, Casuals),
Harry Lowe (Tottenham),
Sonny Avery (Leyton),
Leonard Bradbury (Moor Green),
Jack Braithwaite (Barnet),
Alec Buchanan (Barnet),
Pat Clark (Leyton, Sutton United),
George Dance (Moor Green),
Cyril Longman (Kingstonian),
Richard Manning (Clacton Town),
Albert(Eddie)Martin (Tunbridge Wells Rangers),
John Miller (Tufnell Park, Dulwich Hamlet, Margate),
William Miller (Dulwich Hamlet),
George Pearce (Hoxton Manor),
Bert Read (Nunhead),
Johnny Sherwood (Reading, Maidenhead United, Crystal Palace, Aldershot),
Dick Tarrant (Sutton United),
Bill Whittaker (Kingstonian),
Ted Wingfield (Romford),
J.K. Wright (Yorkshire Amateurs, Wimbledon, Dulwich Hamlet)