Influential sportsman, umpire, referee and administrator. Founder of the FA Cup and Test cricket. He was educated at Harrow School, and was a keen footballer, and formed the Forest club with his elder brother, John, in Chingford in 1859. He was then a prime mover in the 1863 foundation of Forest's more famous successor, Wanderers F.C., who were initially a predominantly Old Harrovian side. On 6 March 1875, he captained England against Scotland, scoring a goal in a 2-2 draw. He was one of those responsible for the first ever international soccer match, and subsequent early international games, with Scotland. The first two of these took place in 1870, with later matches in 1871 and 1872. After the 1870 games there was resentment in Scotland that their team did not contain more home grown players and some of this fire was aimed at him. He then proceeded to offer further challenges with a Scottish team drawn from Scotland and proposed the north of England as a compromise venue to take into account travelling distances. Although not currently recognised by FIFA as official, the Scotsman newspaper described the 1870 and 1871 games as "international" and in italics. One reason for the absence of a response to Alcock's early challenges may have been different football codes being followed in Scotland at the time. The FA Cup - the world's first national football tournament, based on Alcock's experience of inter-house 'sudden death' competition at Harrow - was born. Fifteen teams took part in the first competition in 1872, with Alcock captaining the winning Wanderers side. It was only fitting that the final should be played at The Oval, since he had become Secretary of Surrey CCC the previous month. In cricket, he captained Middlesex in the first county match in 1867, before playing for Essex. He played only one first-class fixture, for MCC, in 1862, and he arranged the first cricket Test Match to be played in England, England against Australia at the Kennington Oval in 1880.