Marc Guehi’s FA Cup double-take has nothing on Theale and T. “Fancy” Skurray

May is cup final season. Regardless of which level you are involved with, the month produces afternoons or evenings of joy or despair. These are much anticipated events, elevated above the grind of league football, thanks to the finality of a competition accompanied by the glitz of a trophy and medals. These are the moments that live long in the memory, where the final whistle signals elation or dejection.

Sadly the desire to win leads to moral hazard and the concept of “ringers” – pot hunters who offer their services as mercenaries to give a team an edge in a vital cup tie. This has largely been eradicated now thanks to digital registration reinforcing competition eligibility rules, although naturally Manchester City have found a way around this, with Marc Guehi somehow collecting a 2026 winner’s medal despite having been part of the Crystal Palace team that was knocked out by Macclesfield in the Third Round.

This state of affairs was more prevalent the further back you go in history, with the strange case of the 1889 Berkshire Charity Cup creating outrage in the local press, thanks in part to the participation of T. “Fancy” Skurray.

There was little short of outrage in the pages of the Maidenhead Advertiser following the indecisive conclusion of the final at Coley Park which ended in a 2-2 draw between Theale and Windsor Phoenix. An anonymous correspondent commented in a tone of disgust that there were only six “Thealeites” in the team, which had been “got together by the donor of the cup and his cofreres”

These ringers included, R. Freebody of Newbury, W George the South Reading captain, goalkeeper S. Hayward, along with his brother. The presence of the latter was cited as evidence that “the example of an older brother is invariably strong for good or evil, consequently little surprised need by evinced at the inclusion of O. Hayward in the “band of brothers””.

Worst of all was left winger T. Fancy Skurray who it was claimed was “ineligible to represent Reading let alone Theale… I very much question his right to pose as a Berkshire player at all… he figured on behalf of Caversham in the Oxfordshire Cup, and it would be interesting to know upon what grounds he bases his dual qualification.”

The writer summarised: “The Theale combination is a made up team, not a bona fide club eleven. It was called into being for the express purpose of enabling the giver of a cup to retain possession of his own present, and it will cease to exist so soon as the laudable intention has succeeded in its object, or suffered the disgrace of well merited defeat. I wonder if Messrs Hayward, Skurray and co have paid their 1888/9 subscriptions to the Theale Football Club! Charity does indeed cover a multitude of sins!”

This scenario had been commonplace across the season. A “Reading cum Theale” team lost at Marlow in the B&B Cup, with eight of these then playing for Reading Albion against Marlow Second XI in the junior competition.

What made the Berkshire Charity Cup final selection worse was that it clashed with an Allied County XI fixture, the Haywards and Skurray had played for the B&B FA against Oxford University, earlier in the season, despite – as previously mentioned – Skurray’s Oxfordshire roots across the Thames in Caversham. All this to “assist a much mixed combination against a junior club like Earley and an ex junior organisation like Windsor Phoenix”

The replay was played at Earley in front of a crowd of “nearly a thousand”, with Colyer scoring the only goal of the game. This time the trophy was raised aloft by a “Curious combination… designated Theale”, where 10 out of the 11 players were members of Reading clubs.

The whole affair raises so many questions. Did the anonymous donor simply create the competition for their own enjoyment? Was money exchanged to engage the services of these supposed amateurs? Did charity benefit from this endeavour? And was Fancy Skurray ever sent back across the river to Oxfordshire?

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