Herbert Kilpin

Herbert Kilpin (24 January 1870 – 22 October 1916) was an English football player and manager, best known as the main founding father of AC Milan. After playing as an amateur in his native city of Nottingham, in the early 1890s he moved to Italy to work in the textile industry and he became one of the pioneers of football in the country, first as a player for Internazionale Torino and then as player, manager, and charter member of Milan.

Early years

Kilpin was born in Nottingham on 24 January 1870. The son of a butcher, he grew up with nine older siblings at 129 Mansfield Road — though the place has been renumbered to 191 Mansfield Road since 1895.¹ After leaving school, he worked as a lace warehouse assistant in the city.² He was a keen footballer and, aged only 13, he had taken part at the foundation of a small amateur club named after Italian national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi, whose players wore the typical red shirts.³

Club career

From England to Italy

Kilpin's footballing career went on with the recently re-established Notts Olympic and then for St. Andrews, a church team based near the Forest Recreation Ground on Gregory Boulevard, where he played as a defender and midfielder.²

In 1891, Kilpin moved to Turin, in Italy, in order to work for Edoardo Bosio, an Italian-Swiss textile merchant with links to a Nottingham lace manufacturer. In the same year Bosio founded Internazionale Torino, believed to be the first full-fledged Italian football club. Kilpin played for the team, as well as Torino Football & Cricket Club, becoming the first-ever Englishman to play football abroad. During this time, he also took part in the first two editions of the , losing both times in the final against .