In Egypt, he is remembered as the ‘father of Egyptian football.’ An exceptional footballer, Hussein Hegazi was the first African player to play in England. He was deemed by The Times the “most conspicuous” and “most promising” player, and the “mainstay” of the Cambridge side. Little is known, however, about Hegazi’s style of play, or what distinguished his game. Hegazi was born in 1889 and grew up in colonial Egypt, where two distinct physical cultures existed. Many of the British soldiers who took part in the occupation of 1882 were footballers who had previously participated in the English F…