Background
Wylie was born in Shrewsbury and was educated at Shrewsbury School between 1869 and 1872.
Wylie was born in Shrewsbury and was educated at Shrewsbury School between 1869 and 1872.
Shrewsbury School.
He also took part as an athlete, winning the Pentathlon at the National Olympian Games in 1879. After leaving school he moved to Sheffield where he trained as a solicitor. He qualified in 1878 after which he joined a practice in London.
In 1881, he was living in Putney.
He died, aged 69, in Wandsworth, London. His early football was played with Shropshire Wanderers, before moving to Sheffield where he earned representative honours for the city of Sheffield.
In the 1874 match against London, he was "borrowed" by the opposition who had insufficient players available. In March 1874, he was selected for the England match against Scotland, but had to withdraw at a late stage, and was replaced by John Hawley Edwards who thus made his solitary international appearance.
He then joined Wanderers making his first appearance for them in January 1875.
Wanderers thus reached their third consecutive cup final, when on 23 March 1878 at the Kennington Oval, they defeated the Royal Engineers 3–1. Three weeks before the Cup Final, Wylie (together with fellow Wanderers forwards Henry Wace and Hubert Heron) was again selected for the annual international fixture against Scotland. The game did not end happily for England as the Scots ran out 7–2 victors, although Wylie did score one of England"s late consolation goals.
Wylie remained with the Wanderers until 1879, making his final appearance on 28 November.
He was described by C. West. Alcock in the 1879 "Football Annual" as "a good centre, with pace and strength (who) should play for his side more". Wanderers.