The Corinthian Ideal

Clare Balding examines the era when footballers were expected to be gentlemen,both on and off the pitch. The Football Association founded in 1863 was set up to ensure the boys that had attended the public schools of England could continue to play the game in adulthood by an agreed set of rules.They embodied the Corinthian spirit, the amateur ideal, one must not be seen to take sport too seriously, or to try too hard, superiority must be gained with apparent effortlessness. Clare looks at the life of C.B. Fry, the ultimate Corinthian - a polymath who could turn his hand to writing, politics, academia, cricket and football. In 1902 he was playing football for Corinthians and cricket for Surrey.

Reader, Brian Bowles
Producer: Lucy Lunt.