Alexander Morten

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Alexander Morten (November 15, 1831?-16 September 1916) was an Association Football player who captained the England team in its second official international, played against Scotland on 8 March 1873.

Morten was the first goalkeeper to captain the English international side and holds the twin distinctions of having been born at an earlier date than any other international footballer, and of being, in all likelihood, older than any other England player on his international debut. His date of birth is disputed; it is generally given as 1831 but some authorities suggest 1832 - census records are lacking and it is not certain whether the Morten known from church registers to have been born in 1831 was the same man as the footballer of the 1870s. Whichever date is correct, however, the player was certainly aged over 40 on his debut.

England won Morten's solitary international by a score of 4-2, but the goalkeeper never played for his country again. Oddly, however, the Middlesex-born Morten had earlier represented Scotland in a March 1870 "pseudo-international" played against a team designated "England". C. W. Alcock wanted to field Morten as goalkeeper in the first international match against Scotland in 1872, but injury prevented this.

As a club footballer, Morten turned out for Wanderers F.C., the most celebrated team of the day, between 1865 and 1874. He also represented Middlesex and played for Crystal Palace - another leading amateur side, and one that was in existence as early as 1861, though it has no connection to the current Football League club of the same name. He was rated as perhaps the best goalkeeper in the world during the early 1870s; according to the Football Annual for 1873, "Toujours pret is his motto when between the posts, in which position he is without a rival, never losing his head, even under the most trying circumstances."

Retiring as a player towards the end of 1874, he was replaced in the Wanderers goal by W.D.O. Greig. Morten served on the Football Association council in 1874-75. He died in New York City in 1916.