On
12 April 1909 West Auckland became the first winners of the Sir
Thomas Lipton Trophy.
Sir Thomas Lipton (of Lipton tea), a millionaire with business
interests in Britain and Italy, decided to stage a tournament in
Turin between teams from Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Great
Britain. Torino XI (Italy), Stuttgarter Sportfreunde (Germany), FC
Winterthur (Switzerland) all turned up to play in the competition
but the English FA decided in their wisdom not to send a team. Sir
Thomas wasn’t having any of this and wanted a British
representative, although quite why he chose West Auckland remains a
mystery.
One theory that he was actually trying to invite Woolwich
Arsenal but his secretary misunderstood a note to call
“W.A.” is considered unlikely to be true given that the
Gunners were not the high profile team they are now. It is more
likely that one of Lipton’s employees had a personal
connection to the club but whatever the reason the players
travelled to Turin in 1909 to take part in the tournament –
many of them at their own expense.
At the two-day event ‘West’ beat Stuttgarter
Sportfreunde 2-0 in the first game, and then beat FC Winterthur by
the same scoreline to win the trophy. In 1911 they were invited
back to defend their title which they did in style. In their first
game they beat FC Zurich 2-0 before thrashing Juventus 6-1 in the
final. Having won it twice the team were allowed to keep the trophy
for good, and the competition was never staged again.
The club held on to the trophy until financial problems forced
them to pawn it to the landlady of a local pub and it was not until
1960 that a village appeal raised the funds necessary to return the
cup to the football club.
In 1994, like the FA Cup and the World Cup before it, the cup
was stolen and, despite the offer of a £2,000 reward, the Sir
Thomas Lipton Trophy has not been rediscovered. A replica is on
display in the West Auckland Working Men’s Club.
Have replaced this cache with a smaller temporary one whilst
I build a new camouflaged container. You are looking for a small
(Fist sized) plastic box