page_title: Edmund Creswell
section_title: Football career
hierarchical_section_title: Edmund Creswell / Football career
caption_attribution_description: English: The Royal Engineers AFC that lost the 1872 FA Cup final. Back: Merriman, Ord, Marindin, Addison, Mitchell; Front: Hoskyns, Renny-Tailyour, Creswell, Goodwyn, Barker, Rich.
context_page_description: Col. Edmund William Creswell was a British soldier, who played for the Royal Engineers in the 1872 FA Cup Final. As a soldier, he was engaged mainly in administrative work and never saw active service.
context_section_description: Creswell represented Bruce Castle School and the RMA at football. He was Secretary of the Royal Engineers Association Football Club, which, in November 1871, was among fifteen teams who entered the inaugural FA Cup competition, and were allocated a home match in the first round against Reigate Priory. Reigate Priory, however, withdrew from the competition, sending the Engineers through to the next round on a walkover. In the second round, the Engineers beat Hitchin 5–0 on 10 January 1872. At the quarter-final stage, the Engineers beat Hampstead Heathens 3–0, setting up a semi-final against Crystal Palace which was won 3–0 after a replay.
  The first FA Cup Final was played at Kennington Oval on 16 March 1872 between the Royal Engineers and Wanderers, the top amateur club of the day. Ten minutes into the match, Creswell was seriously injured, breaking a collar-bone in a charge on goal. Despite suffering tremendous pain, he refused to leave the pitch and played the remainder of the match out of the action as a "passenger" on the wing. Wanderers took the lead fifteen minutes into the game when Morton Betts opened the scoring from an acute angle after Robert Vidal's long dribble. Wanderers continued to exert further pressure on the Engineers' goal and, despite a late rally from the Engineers, Wanderers were able to hold on to their lead and the game ended in a 1–0 victory in their favour. In its report on the match, The Sportsman commented: "Too much praise cannot be accorded to him for the pluck he showed in maintaining his post, although completely disabled and in severe pain, until the finish".
  Although Creswell's football career was short, he remained an active sportsman for a long period. He played cricket for the Royal Engineers and other clubs, including the Gentlemen of Hampshire, between 1868 and 1886.
caption: The Royal Engineers team of 1872. Eight of these players played in the first FA Cup Final. Creswell is seated third from the left
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