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the first
world cup
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The
First World Cup
(1909
&1911)
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The
story of the trophy is an interesting and
important piece of football history. It is with
great pride that the people of Durham County
recall that it was West Auckland Football Club
who represented Great Britain in the inaugural
“World Cup” competition during the Easter of
1909 and won it.
This
competition was organised in Torino, Italy, by
the British industrial Sir Thomas Lipton, and
involved clubs from Italy, England, Switzerland
and Germany.
The trophy
was presented to the winners by Sir Thomas
Lipton, a Millionaire with business interests in
Britain and Italy. The original invitation was
offered to the English Football Association, who
was asked to nominate a team, but they declined.
Sir Thomas Lipton insisted that Great Britain be
represented. As to how West Auckland was chosen
is open to speculation, but the following
explanation is probably the most credible.
An employee of Sir Thomas Lipton happened to have been a referee in the
Northern League and it is, therefore, thought likely that he was
instrumental in finding a substitute team form the league, i.e., West
Auckland Town.
The team predominantly made up of coal miners, struggled to raise the
money necessary to make the trip to Italy, and some even pawned their own
possessions in order to do so. Their determination paid off as they beat
Stuttgart, of Germany, 2-0 on the way to beating F.C Winterhouse, of
Switzerland, 2-0 (scorers, Bob Jones and Jock Jones,) in the final at the Turin Stadium, on April 12 1909. So
the first world cup had been won by a team of relatively unknown amateurs
who had to finance the excursion themselves.
1909
World Cup - Participants:
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Torino
XI (Italy)
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Stuttgarter Sportfreunde (Germany)
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West
Auckland FC (England)
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FC
Winterthur (Switzerland)
Semi-finals (April 11 1909)
Stuttgarter Sportfreunde. 0 - 2 West
Auckland (Goals, Whittington 10, Dickinson 88
pen)
Torino XI 1 - 2 FC Winterthur (Goals -
F.Berardo 13; Lang 25, 55 pen)
Third Place Match (April 12 1909)
Torino XI 2 - 1 Stuttgarter Sportfreunde,
(De Bernardi 35, Zuffi II 75; Kipp 15)
Final (April
12 1909)
West Auckland 2 - 0 FC
Winterthur (Goals (R.Jones 6pen, J.Jones 8)
West
Auckland Team : - Jimmy
Dickinson, Rob Gill, Jack Greenwell, Rob Jones, Tom Gill, Charlie
"Dirty" Hogg,
Ben Whittingham, Douglas Crawford, Bob Guthrie, Alf "tot"
Gubbins, Jock Jones, David "Ticer" Thomas, Tucker Gill, M
S C (Sidney) Barron - Secretary.
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West
Auckland Defend their Title 1911
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Italy
was again the venue, and as reigning
champions, West Auckland was invited back to
defend their trophy. They beat Red Star, of
Switzerland, 2-0 in the way to the final,
where they beat Juventus,
of Italy 6-1 on April 17 1911 (Scorers, Bob "Drol" Moor
- 2, Fred Dun - 2, Andy Appledby, Joe Rewcastle.) As Sir Thomas had stipulated that
if a
winning team won the trophy in consecutive tournaments they would be
entitled to keep it. West Auckland FC had etched their name in the
annals of soccer history as the first outright winners of the “World
Cup”.
1911
Participants
Semi-finals (April ??? 1911)
FC Zürich 0 - 2 West Auckland
Juventus FBC bt FC Torino
Third Place Match
FC Torino 2 -1 FC Zürich
Final (AprIL 17 1911)
Juventus FBC 1-6 West Auckland
West Auckland Team - J Robinson, Tom Wilson, Charlie Cassidy, Andy
"Chips" Appleby, Michael Alderson, Bob "Drol"
Moore, Fred Dunn, Joes Recastle, Bob Jones, Bob Guthrie, Charlie
"Dirty" Hogg, T Riley, John Warick
Officials - M S C Barron, E Meek, W Nolli, R Hodgson, R
Chamberlain.
On this occasion, the celebrations upon
returning home were short lived. Because of
the financial problems the tour had caused,
the club had to find £40 quickly. As their
only asset was the trophy, an arrangement
was made with Mrs. Lanchester, the landlady of the
Wheatsheaf Hotel which served as a head quarters of the club. The
agreement involved a loan of £40 by Mrs. Lanchester to the club,
with the trophy as security, which she could retain until the
money was returned.
It remained in her possession for
almost 50 years when in 1960 officials of the club managed to track her
down living in Liverpool. She obviously still had her faculties as she
drove a hard bargain before handing over the trophy in return for £100.
Upon its return the trophy was put
on Display in the Eden arms public house, which was the home of the club
secretary Mr. Syd Douthwaite. It remained on show and it was only when the
Jules Rimmit Trophy was stolen in 1966 that Mr. Douthwaite began to lock
it away.
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West
Auckland `s World Cup Stolen
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In
January 1994 the trophy, which was then
being held in the West Auckland workingmen’s
club, was stolen. Despite the best efforts
of the police, and the offer of a
substantial reward the trophy has not been
recovered. Fortunate the loss was covered by CornHill Insurance, and the manufacture of a replica trophy
was possible. To this end MR. John Harrison, of Finlays jewellers was
contacted, he knew of a Sheffield silversmith, Mr. Jack Spencer, who has
now completed the task of producing a superb replica, working only from
photographs and videos. This replica gas kindly been sponsored by
C.T.G (Liptons) and will again be kept in the lounge area of the Workmen's
club, in a specially constructed cabinet sponsored by Mr. Bill Moody of
Rushlift Mechanical Handling ltd.
It is with great pride and
sincere thanks to the above sponsors that the West Auckland Club again
hold the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy.
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Westaucklandafc
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The Club was
founded in 1893 and played it's first matches in the
Auckland and District league. The following year saw
"West" move around several local leagues until in 1909
they were elected into the Northern League for the fist
time.
The Famous World Cup exploits which saw
"West" win the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy outright after their
second trip to Italy in 1911, also caused them extreme financial problems.
This resulted in the club being disbanded in 1912 and the World Cup being
sold to pay off the debts.
Two years later they were back in business and
spent the following 20 years moving around local leagues, including a
single season in 1919, in the Northern League changing their name to St.
Helens United for that season only. In 1934 they were elected to the Northern
League, taking the place of Esh Winning and have retained membership ever
since.
The clubs first league honours were gained in
1960, winning the championship by two points from newcomers Whitley Bay.
The success was due to a good start to the season and to fine team - work,
for which their reputation was beginning to grow.
The same season saw them reach the quarter
final stage of the F.A. Amateur Cup drawing 1-1 at home but losing the
replay at Hendon 2- 0.
1961 was probably the best season in the clubs
history to date, not only was the Northern League Championship won by 4
points from near neighbour and arch rivals Bishop Auckland, but
"west" reached the final of the F.A. Amateur Cup, losing 2-1 to
Walthamstow Avenue, their only visit to Wembley.
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West
Auckland `s Honours List |
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Sir Thomas
Lipton Trophy (1st World Cup): 1909, 11
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FA Amateur
Cup: R-Up: 1960-61
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Northern
League: 1959-60, 60-61
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Div 2:
1990-91, R-Up: 1997-98
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League Cup:
1958-59, 62-63, R-Up: 1948-49, 61-62, 63-64
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Durham
Challenge Cup: 1964-65
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Durham
Benevolent Bowl: 1962-63
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Auckland &
District: 1893-96, 1924-27, 28-33, 34
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Wear
Valley: 1896-1900
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South
Durham Alliance: 1900-05
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Mid Durham:
1905-08
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Northern
League: 1919-20
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Palantine:
1920-24
South Durham: 1927-28
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Gaunless
Valley: 1933-34
Names: Auckland St. Helens, St. Helens, West
Auckland
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Back Row: Richard Latimer, Andy
Cole, Brian Fairhurst ©, Jonathon
Collinson, Paul Stout, Dale Jardine,
Matthew Moffatt, Dave Forrest, Colin
Lawton, Dave Hodgson (Asst Manager)
Front Row: Chris Gillespie, Karl
Everett, Alan Shoulder (Manager), Dion
Raitt, Anthony Ross, Phil McGuire (
transferred to Shildon), Max Applegarth,
Chase McMullen, Baz Mundy (Physio)
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Management and Officials 2004 -2005 |
Chairman-Jim Palfreyman
Manager:
Alan Shoulder, Assistant Manager: Dave
Hodgson, Physio: Baz Mundy
Alan Gaskarth,
Allen Bayles, Tom Shaw, Cliffy Alderson, David
Short, David Waldock, Frankie Patrick, Kenny
Raine, Les Nevison, Maurice Flowers, Sonny
Jobling, Stuart Alderson,
Address
West Auckland
Town AFC, Darlington Road, West Auckland, County
Durham DL14 9JD
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a
sir
thomas
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 Born
in a tenement in Gorbals in 1850, of Irish parents,
Tommy Lipton left school at ten and at 15 was in
America. He had stowed away in a ship. Initially he
worked as a farm labourer in Virginia and South
Carolina, later working in a grocer's shop in New York.
He must have absorbed American business flair, for five
years later he was back in Glasgow opening what was to
be the first shop in an extremely successful retail
empire.
In ten years he was a millionaire, acquiring tea estates
in Sri Lanka and meat processing factories in America.
His business philosophy he summed up as, "Work hard,
deal honestly, be enterprising, exercise careful
judgement, advertise freely but judiciously."
In the tea business, particularly, he was innovative,
selling different tea blends to different countries and
using containers to help preserve freshness. It was
Lipton who was the first to package tea in small,
convenient tins to keep it fresh, preserve the flavour
and guarantee that customers received the correct amount
of tea. By the turn of the century, tea was a popular
beverage on both sides of the Atlantic.
In 1904, two interesting developments happened almost
simultaneously that would broaden tea's appeal even
more. In New York, a tea and coffee merchant named
Thomas Sullivan decided to package loose tea in small,
hand-sewn silk bags as an inexpensive and convenient way
to distribute tea samples to his customers. To his
surprise, his customers brewed the tea in the tea bags
rather than removing the contents and so was born the
now ubiquitous tea bag.
The Thomas J. Lipton company further improved upon this
invention with the introduction of the Flo-Thru Tea Bag
in 1952. With four brewing sides, rather than two,
boiling water reached the tea more easily, releasing
more of the Lipton "BRISK" tea taste.
Lipton's relaxation was sailing and he used his fortune
to enter a succession of boats (all named 'Shamrock') in
the Americas Cup. In all he raced five times but never
won. He was such a good loser however, that America
presented him with a gold cup anyway!
Lipton never forgot his native city and on his death he
bequeathed to Glasgow his extensive personal collection
of newspaper cuttings, photographs and memorabilia, now
housed in the Mitchell Library.
There are over 100 large volumes of press cuttings from
1877 until his death. They cover all aspects of his
business and social life but particularly concentrate on
his five unsuccessful challenges for the America's Cup.
There are over 2,000 photographs in 48 volumes, which
were preserved in part due to financial aid from
Unilever, who now own the Lipton brand.
On his death in London, in 1931, Sir Tommy Lipton left
no family, bequeathing his estate to Glasgow. His
portrait on his brands of tea had become part of the
social fabric of the times. Queen Victoria knighted
Lipton, both for his commercial success as well as his
philanthropy. During the Spanish-American war and later
during WWI, Lipton gave money and services to aid the
wounded
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"Work
hard, deal honestly,
be enterprising, exercise careful
judgement, advertise freely but judiciously."
- Sir Thomas Lipton (1850-1931) |
Multimedia (external links)
Footage of
Sir Thomas Lipton (1930)
http://heritage.scotsman.com/cfm/greatscots/level2.cfm?id2=tlipton
Windows Streaming video media
Download MPEG Video (33 Megs)
Right Click |
a Captainstale
| A TV production company made a film
on the world cup back in the 1980`s it was titled "A
Captains Tale," staring Dennis Waterman (Arthur Daley's
Body guard in hit program Minder). This can be purchased
either on Video or DVD, by getting in contact with Allen
Bayles, a West Auckland Town AFC official on 01388
833783 as advertised on the clubs official website (
West Auckland Town AFC).
The cost for these are currently
£12 + P&P for a DVD and £10 + P&P. Please contact the
West Auckland Town Football Clubs official, Mr Allen
Bayles. West Auckland Web does not stock any
merchandise. |
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