WALK along Norfolk Street, in Sunderland, and unless you know what you’re looking for, it’s easy to miss it. There are few clues to suggest this otherwise unremarkable Victorian terrace is integral to the history of English football, until you notice the blue plaque adorning the wall of number ten.

“Charles William Alcock born here in 1842. A renowned footballer and cricketer, Alcock was Secretary of the Football Association for 25 years, working to establish the ‘one universal game’.

“In 1870, he organised and played in the first ever international match, England vs Scotland; and in 1871, he created the world’s first national football tournament, The FA Cup.”

As the Football Association kicks off its 150th anniversary celebrations with tonight’s glamour friendly between England and Brazil, Wearside’s role in the development of the organisation is worth celebrating. Sunderland – birthplace of the man who transformed the beautiful game.

BORN in December 1842, Alcock was the son of Charles Alcock Sr, a broker and ship owner, who amassed a considerable fortune as Sunderland’s economy boomed in the wake of the industrial revolution.

The family boasted extensive business dealings in the North-East, but moved south when the younger Charles was 13. He enrolled at Harrow School just as the world of private education was embracing sport as a means of promoting good character, and was encouraged to play football and cricket.

On leaving school, he joined his father and elder brother in the marine insurance business, but his interest in sport continued and he helped form Forest FC, in north London, one of the capital’s first football clubs.

In 1863, a group of clubs came together to form the Football Association, and among the founder members was Forest FC, who would later be renamed as Wanderers.

Alcock was one of the key figures in the FA’s creation, and his primary motivation was the adoption of a formal set of rules that would enable football to attain the same status as rugby, which had previously been much better organised.

He persuaded his fellow FA members to formally adopt the Cambridge University rules, which were similar to the ones he had played under at Harrow, and recognised that national and even international uniformity was desirable.

He began to organise regional matches that encouraged different parts of England to play to the same rules – London FA vs Sheffield FA in 1866, North vs South in 1870 – and regarded international fixtures as the logical next step in a process of assimilation.

In 1870, he issued a notice in The Sportsman, declaring: “A match between the leading representatives of the Scotch and English sections will be played at The Oval on Saturday, February 19, under the auspices of the Football Association.”

The game caused controversy, as the Scottish XI was selected from players based in London, rather than players from north of the border.

As a result, Fifa refuse to acknowledge the game as A fully-fledged international – but Alcock was adamant it was such.

“If in the face of the invitations publicly given through the columns of leading journals of Scotland the representative eleven consisted chiefly of Anglo-Scotians, the fault lies on the heads of the players of the north, not on the management who sought the services of all alike impartially,” he wrote in The Scotsman.

“To call the team London Scotchmen contributes nothing. The match was, as announced, to all intents and purposes between England and Scotland.”

The Northern Echo: RECOGNITION: Karen Gunnell, the greatgreat- great niece of sporting pioneer Charles William Alcock and her son, Johannes, unveil the Blue Plaque to him in Norfolk Street, Sunderland

WHATEVER the status of the game, the interest of football clubs north of the border had been pricked, and two years later, the committee of Queens Park selected a Scottish side for a representative game in Glasgow. In the eyes of Fifa, this match is the world’s first international.

As well as facilitating football’s geographical spread, Alcock was also keen to provide England’s clubs with a competition that would bring them together At an FA committee meeting in July 1871, Alcock proposed the inauguration of a new competition. “It is desirable that a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the association for which all clubs belonging to the association should be invited to compete,”

reads the minutes.

Alcock was adamant the tournament should have a single-elimination, knock-out format, perhaps mirroring the “Cock House” competition he had experienced at Harrow.

The rest of the FA committee backed Alcock’s proposal and the FA Cup was born.

Twelve clubs entered the inaugural tournament in the 1871-72 season, clubbing together to purchase the 18in silver cup that remains one of the most iconic trophies in sport.

MORE than 2,000 spectators watched the first final at The Oval, with Wanderers beating the Royal Engineers 1-0.

As the triumphant Wanderers captain, Alcock became the first player to lift the FA Cup, and while Wanderers won five of the first seven stagings, the rapid spread of football’s appeal ensured the level of competition quickly increased.

Within a decade, the likes of Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion – clubs recognisable to the modern-day fan – were celebrating FA Cup success.

Buoyed by the positive reaction to his efforts, Alcock urged clubs to pay their players to reflect football’s growing popularity and in 1885, he persuaded the FA to formally agree to professionalism.

Away from football, he was the secretary of Surrey County Cricket Club, a close friend of the legendary WG Grace and one of the driving forces behind the first Test match between England and Australia.

He died in 1907, and is buried in West Norwood Cemetery, in south London.

Through the mists of time, his name has been forgotten. But as the FA begin to celebrate 150 years of football, the sport as we know it today would almost certainly not have existed without him.