Morgan-Owen Morgan Image 1 Corinthians 1905

Hereford born Morgan Owen-Morgan first played football at Shrewsbury and went on to Oriel College, Oxford (1896-1900) where he gained soccer blues between 1897 and 1900. He began playing football at inside left and at Oxford he played centre forward but he converted into the half back line and spent most of his career at centre half. Morgan was described as the greatest Corinthian of the Edwardian period and S.S. Harris, captain of England, described him as the best centre half-back, amateur or professional, of his time.

He found his best position of centre half with The Corinthians for whom he played from 1898 to 1913, for most of his long and distinguished amateur football career but he also played for The Casuals (1903-13) and in that time the team won the London Charity Cup twice and the AFA Senior Cup twice. He captained both teams and later in his career he also appeared occasionally for London Welsh (1906), Rhyl Athletic (1907) and Oswestry Town (1908). He was always an amateur but made four appearances for professional sides, playing once for First Division Nottingham Forest, making his Football League debut against Blackburn Rovers in April 1901, and three times for Glossop North End between April 1904 and September 1905.

In 1903, ‘MM’, as he was known, and his brother ‘H’ (Hugh) had withdrawn from the Welsh international team to play England, choosing instead to play for the Old Salopians (Shrewsbury School Old Boys) in the first ever final of the Arthur Dunn Cup; Morgan later became President of Old Salopians. From 1921 he was President of Corinthians and in 1933 chaired a dinner to celebrate fifty years of that distinguished club.

He became a regular Welsh international footballer, playing 12 matches for Wales and scoring 2 goals between 1897 and 1907. He played his first match against Ireland on 6th March 1897 in a 4-3 defeat at The Solitude Ground, Belfast, and his last match on 18th March 1907 against England in a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage. For Wales he played in three different positions over his international career, centre forward, right half and centre half.

Morgan served as an officer throughout the First World War, and was both gassed and severely wounded during his service on the Western Front. He was lucky to survive one incident when he was coming out of his tent. He was buttoning on his revolver when the butt and handle deflected a bullet away from his vital organs. It entered his lower arm where it shattered the bone. This had to be replaced with a silver rod, resulting in the virtual termination of his sporting career.

His brother Hugh Morgan-Owen was also a Welsh international footballer and also played for The Corinthians.