By Alan Sedunary

Nicky Shorey's impressive England debut against Brazil (doesn't that still sound great) made him the third Reading player to be capped by England.

That is, according to the record books, but some Reading fans believe the record books are wrong.

Certainly, he was our first full England international since the legendary Herbert Smith won the last of his four caps back in March 1906.

Like Nicky, Herbert was a left back and although physically different to our current star they were similar in other ways. Herbert was described as 'a brilliant defender' whose 'dexterous left foot was almost legendary' and he was 'scrupulously fair' - a description that could easily be used in Nicky's pen picture.

Before Herbert, Johnny Holt won the last of his 10 England caps on 17 March 1900 at which time he was a Reading player. At just over 5ft 4 inches tall Johnny was the shortest centre half ever to play for England and he overcame his lack of height 'due to timing, judgement and getting an extra lift via his opponents' shoulders' so no-one is ever going to describe him as being scrupulously fair!

So who is Reading's missing fourth English international? On 6 March 1875 Edward Brownlow Haygarth played right back against Scotland at The Oval and despite giving a hardworking display on a muddy pitch he was never selected again.

All record books show E.B. as a player with Swifts, a club based in Slough, but Reading have a strong claim to be credited instead. In those early, amateur days players were not tied to one club and the better players, which Haygarth certainly was, tended to pick and chose who they would play for, depending on the attractiveness of the fixture.

Even so E.B. was a regular for Reading for several years either side of his international appearance.

Thanks to research by former Supporters' Club chairman, Roger Titford, we know E.B. certainly played for Swifts at the beginning of that year but he then played twice for Reading, including a game against Southall the Saturday before the international.

Indeed, one contemporary report of the international refers to him as 'the Reading captain'.

One possible reason for Reading being unjustly omitted as E.B.'s club was that we were not members of the FA at that time. And that was not the last time Reading were denied credit for an international. Herbert Smith helped England (and yes, it was England, not Great Britain, in those days) win the Olympic gold medal in 1908.

Despite having been a first team regular and captain at Elm Park for five seasons his club was shown as Oxford City, presumably because the FA did not want a professional club's name being recorded in the amateur competition.

Even if we cannot claim E B Haygarth as our first England cap (for the time being) he still has an unequalled place in our history. Not only did he play in Reading's first ever game, he also scored our very first goal when, on 20 November 1872, he netted (or would have done had there been nets!) against Windsor Home Park.

There have been moves to get E.B. honoured by having a local road named after him and recently a housing association has short-listed him for the name of a local development.

Mind you, it might not long before Nicky's name is commemorated in such a way - Shorey Drive, anyone!

Obscure fact of the day #1
Herbert Smith finished on the winning side in all four of his internationals, Johnny Holt was the first English international to play in 10 games without being on the losing side and both Nicky and Edward Haygarth are unbeaten for their country.

The message to Steve McClaren is obvious; always make sure you have at least one Reading player in your side.

Obscure fact of the day #2
Nicky, of course, was the first England international to make his debut at the new Wembley Stadium.

By a strange coincidence Billy Butler, later to play for and manage Reading, was the first player to make his England debut at the original Wembley, back in 1924.

Addendum - May 2008

Reading fan Roger Titford unearthed a fifth Royal to play for England: Edgar Field - more details online.