Thomas Charles Hooman (28 December 1850 – 22 September 1938) was a leading English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player of the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

. He played for Wanderers in the 1872 FA Cup Final and was also chosen to represent

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

on several occasions.

Early life

Hooman was born in

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a market town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester, England, Worcester. Located north of the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour and east of the River Severn, in th ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, the son of a carpet manufacturer. He attended

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

and represented the school at

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

Football career

Hooman played football for Wanderers, one of the leading clubs of the 1870s, as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He was described by contemporary commentators as "the fastest dribbler of the day, and an accomplished player". In 1871 he was chosen to play for the

England national team Team England usually refers to the name under which athletes representing Commonwealth Games England compete. England team or Team England may refer to: *Commonwealth Games England *England national football team *England cricket team *England nat ...

in two matches against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

, although these matches are not now regarded as official international matches by

The Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

. He was also chosen to play in what is now regarded as the first official international match, between England and Scotland in Glasgow in 1872, but was unavailable due to other commitments. He was also selected for teams representing

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

and London. Hooman played for Wanderers in the 1872 FA Cup Final, the final of the first

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

competition, and helped his team to a 1–0 victory over

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

. He was still playing for the club a year later, when Wanderers played in the 1873 Final, but was unavailable on the day of the final.

Outside football

Hooman also competed in various other sports, representing England in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

and rowing at the

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a Rowing (sport), rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It diffe ...

. He was also adept at boxing and golf. Hooman took third place in the 100 yards event at the 1871 AAC Championships. He went into business as a merchant ship broker and later as a manufacturer of

Portland cement Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar (masonry), mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in th ...

. His son

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

(born 1887), played for

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ken ...

and played golf for Britain and Ireland in the first two

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland featuring players from the United Kingdom and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup ...

competitions in the early 1920s.

Death

Hooman died in

Hythe, Kent Hythe () is an old market town and civil parish on the edge of Romney Marsh in Kent, England. ''Hythe'' is an Old English word meaning haven or landing place. History The earliest reference to Hythe is in Domesday Book (1086) though there i ...

at the age of 87 following an operation. His obituary was published in several newspapers, all of which repeated a claim that he had scored the winning goal in the 1872 Cup final. This contradicts all known contemporary newspaper reports on the match, all of which state that

Morton Betts Morton Peto Betts (30 August 1847 – 19 April 1914) was a leading English sportsman of the late 19th century. He was notable for scoring the first goal in an English FA Cup Finals, FA Cup final. Early life Betts was the son of Edward Betts of ...

scored the Wanderers' goal. The obituaries also mention other things which Hooman "told a reporter some time ago" about the game, such as the fact that there was no

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

, which are demonstrably incorrect, suggesting that in his recollections he was confusing the final with another match in which he played.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooman, Thomas 1850 births 1938 deaths Men's association football forwards England men's representative footballers (1870–1872) English men's footballers Old Carthusians F.C. players People educated at Charterhouse School Footballers from Kidderminster Wanderers F.C. players Sportspeople from Worcestershire