Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy

Not to be confused with Lipton Challenge Cup.
For the South American competition, see Copa Lipton.
Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy
The trophy awarded to champions
Organising bodyThomas Lipton
Founded1909
Abolished1911; 113 years ago (1911)
RegionEurope
Number of teams4
Related competitionsTorneo Internazionale Stampa Sportiva
Last championsEngland West Auckland (1911)
Most successful club(s)England West Auckland
(2 titles)

The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy was an association football competition that took place twice, in Turin, Italy, in 1909 and 1911. It is regarded as an early European trophy.[1][2]

It is predated by the Torneo Internazionale Stampa Sportiva,[3] which was hosted in 1908 in Turin, and the Football World Championship, which took place between 1887 and 1902. Also seen as an international competition, but with the noted lack of an England team, Lipton in partnership with the Italian royal family, wanted to go one further and make a more complete tournament. While the actual FIFA World Cup features international teams from around the world, the Lipton Cup, an invitational, only featured a few club sides from Europe.

Overview

Italy, Germany and Switzerland sent their most prestigious club sides to the competition, but The Football Association of England refused to be associated with it and declined the offer to send a team. Not wishing to have England unrepresented in the competition, Thomas Lipton invited West Auckland FC, an amateur side from County Durham and mostly made up of coal miners, to take part. The reason why this team was selected is unknown, although contemporary Italian reports of the team's achievements in the Northern League suggest confusion with the more successful Bishop Auckland.[4] Reports that it was intended to send Woolwich Arsenal, but that West Auckland were invited instead as they shared the same initials,[5] are unlikely to be true; Italian reporting shows they were expecting a team from the Northern League.[6]

West Auckland won the tournament and returned to Italy in 1911 to defend their title. In this second competition, West Auckland beat the then amateur team Juventus 6–1 in the final, and were awarded the trophy outright. The development of football on other continents: Asia, Africa and the Americas was not very advanced and Europe was where the major football was happening.[7][8]

In January 1994 the original trophy, which was being held in West Auckland Working Men's Club, was stolen. An exact replica of the original trophy was commissioned and is now held by West Auckland FC.[2][8]

1909 tournament

Participants

Team
Italy Torino XI [note 1]
Germany Stuttgarter Sportfreunde
England West Auckland
Switzerland Winterthur
Notes
  1. ^ This team was formed from players of mainly clubs Torino and Piemonte. Juventus had refused to be involved.[9]

Results

Semi-finals

1909 Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy
Stuttgarter Sportfreunde Germany0–2England West Auckland
Whittington 10'
Dickenson 88' (pen.)
Torino XI Italy1–2Switzerland Winterthur
Berardo 13' Lang 25', 55' (pen.)

Third place match

Torino XI Italy2–1Germany Stuttgarter Sportfreunde
Debernardi 35'
Zuffi II 75'		 Kipp 15'

Final

West Auckland England2–0Switzerland Winterthur
R. Jones 6' (pen.)
J. Jones 8'

1911 tournament

Participants

West Auckland with the Thomas Lipton Cup in 1911
Team
England West Auckland
Italy Juventus
Italy Torino
Switzerland FC Zürich

Results

Semi-finals

1911 Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy
Zürich Switzerland0–2England West Auckland
Juventus Italy2–0Italy Torino

Third place match

Torino Italy2–1Switzerland Zürich

Final

1911 Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy Final
Juventus Italy1–6England West Auckland
Corbelli Report Moore 3', 50'
Appleby 9'
Rewcastle 11'
Dunn 14', 55'

West Auckland Town: J Robinson; Tom Wilson, Charlie Cassidy; Andy "Chips" Appleby, Michael Alderson, Bob "Drol" Moore; Fred Dunn, Joe Rewcastle, Bob Jones, Bob Guthrie, Charlie "Dirty" Hogg, T Riley, John Warick

Officials: M S C Barron, E Meek, W Nolli, R Hodgson, R Chamberlain

Moving Adverts of Dubai has worked with video maker Rob Kilburn on an account of the story, Our Cup of Tea.[8]

Tyne Tees Television produced a dramatisation of the story in 1982, The World Cup: A Captain's Tale.

See also

Further reading

  • The Miners' Triumph: The First English World Cup Win, Martin Connolly, ISBN 978-1718085824 Oakleaf Publishing (self-published) (2014)

References

  1. ^ WEST AUCKLAND, JUVENTUS AND THE FIRST ‘WORLD CUP’ by Somnath Sengupta on The Hard Tackle, 12 July 2013
  2. ^ a b The first European Trophy - 1909 on West Auckland Web
  3. ^ Andrea Veronese (20 November 2004). "Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy (Torino)". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  4. ^ Connolly, Martin (2014). The Miners' Triumph: THe First English World Cup Win. Oakleaf Publishing. pp. 40–42. ISBN 978-1718085824.
  5. ^ "West Auckland's World Cup Rematch". BBC. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  6. ^ Connolly, Martin (2014). The Miners' Triumph: THe First English World Cup Win. Oakleaf Publishing. pp. 37–40. ISBN 978-1718085824.
  7. ^ The World Cup Story on West Auckland Town site (archived, 2 Feb 2017)
  8. ^ a b c West Auckland: "World Cup" winner Archived 29 January 2002 at the Wayback Machine on Fortune City (archived, 16 Aug 2002)
  9. ^ Connolly, Martin (2014). The Miners' Triumph: THe First English World Cup Win. Oakleaf Publishing. pp. 46–47. ISBN 978-1718085824.
  10. ^ a b c d Andrea Veronese (20 November 2004). "1909 Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy (Torino)". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  11. ^ a b c Andrea Veronese (20 November 2004). "1911 Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy (Torino)". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  12. ^ Connolly, Martin (2014). The Miners' Triumph: THe First English World Cup Win. Oakleaf Publishing. pp. 121–122. ISBN 978-1718085824.
  13. ^ Connolly, Martin (2014). The Miners' Triumph: THe First English World Cup Win. Oakleaf Publishing. pp. 123–125. ISBN 978-1718085824.
  14. ^ Connolly, Martin (2014). The Miners' Triumph: THe First English World Cup Win. Oakleaf Publishing. pp. 126–127. ISBN 978-1718085824.
  15. ^ Connolly, Martin (2014). The Miners' Triumph: THe First English World Cup Win. Oakleaf Publishing. pp. 127–130. ISBN 978-1718085824.