William Cobbold

Cobbold starred on his international debut in England's 7–0 demolition of Ireland in February 1883, scoring twice in three minutes, and was frequently described as the trickiest and most elegant forward in the world at this time. "If one were to ask, Who were the three greatest forwards of all time?" wrote William Pickford and Alfred Gibson in 1906, "no matter what other two were named, W.N. Cobbold would perhaps come first to the lips." Playing generally at inside left, "Nuts" was considered to have the ideal build for a striker of his period. "The best type of forward player," wrote Montague Shearman in 1887, "is the fast, sturdy man of medium height, like W.N. Cobbold the Cantab." It was true, Pickford and Gibson went on, that Cobbold was pre-eminently an old-style dribbling forward, who had learned his football in the years before the advent of the "combination" (passing) game at the end of the 1870s: "In those days 'dribbling' was the great game, and one only passed the ball when one was completely hemmed in, and not always even then." But "Nuts" was far more than a mere dribbler, the authors stressed:

"He was essentially a scoring forward, and one, too, that made most of his own chances. One could not, for instance, conceive a greater contrast in style than Cobbold and Bloomer, both inside forwards. The former was almost continuously on the ball, while the Derby man seems to be doing nothing, and doing it well, for the greater part of the game. When Cobbold got…

Nevill was born in Long Melford, England, the son of a vicar, Edward Augustus Cobbold of the Cobbold family. "Nuts" was educated at Charterhouse School, one of the great nurseries of the association game, and Jesus College, Cambridge. As well as playing for the village team, he represented Cambridge University, Old Carthusians, and the Corinthians. While at university, Cobbold played in four consecutive varsity matches against Oxford University, winning each of them. His nickname, given to him during his time at school, was awarded – thought C.B. Fry – "possibly because he was the very best Kentish cob quality, all kernel and extremely hard to crack."

In later life he was a schoolteacher, working principally as a "crammer" who specialised in preparing boys for entrance to the British Army. Cobbold suffered considerably from ill health in the years leading to his death – problems his obituarist attributed to his capacity for sheer hard work. He died at West Wratting.