West Auckland Town F.C.

Infobox Football club
clubname = West Auckland Town
fullname = West Auckland Town Football Club
nickname = West
founded = 1893 (as West Auckland)
ground = Darlington Road
capacity = 6,728 (700 seating)
chairman = Jim Palfreyman
manager = Stuart Alderson
league = Northern League
season = 2007-08
position = 16th
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pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=|leftarm2=FFFF44|body2=FFFF44|rightarm2=FFFF44|shorts2=FFFF44|socks2=FFFF44

West Auckland Town F.C. are a football club from West Auckland, County Durham, England, competing in the Northern League. The club are most famous for being the winners of the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, the one of the world's first international footballing competition, twice, in 1909 and 1911.

History

Early history

The club were founded as West Auckland F.C. in 1893, and initially played in the Wear Valley League (1896-1900), South Durham Alliance (1900-05) and Mid Durham League (1905-08). In 1908 they joined the Northern League. [cite web | url=http://www.fchd.btinternet.co.uk/W-AUCKLA.HTM | title=West Auckland | work=Football Club History Database ]

ir Thomas Lipton Trophy

The Trophy was initiated by businessman and sporting enthusiast Sir Thomas Lipton, who wished to see a competition between the leading football clubs of Europe. The football associations of Italy, Germany and Switzerland duly complied, but the Football Association of England refused to nominate a club. West Auckland, a lowly amateur side of coalminers from the Northern League were entered into the competition, although it has never been entirely clear why.

One plausible explanation for West Auckland's entry was that an employee of Sir Thomas Lipton's had contacts in the Northern League and put out an appeal for a team to take the English spot. An alternative explanation, popular in the town itself, is that Lipton had wanted to send Woolwich Arsenal to the Championship – an instruction to his secretary to "contact W.A." led to West Auckland being mistakenly contacted. However, a review of the facts casts doubt on this theory; at the time Woolwich Arsenal had only just been promoted from the Second Division and were not the famous club they are today, being relatively small and unsuccessful compared to many other Football League sides. In addition, there is no documentary evidence to suggest any sort of link between Sir Thomas Lipton and Woolwich Arsenal, so it is unclear why he would have chosen them ahead of any other English team.

West Auckland duly made the journey to Turin, where the first tournament was being held, many of the players paying out of their own pocket to do so. They beat Stuttgarter Sportfreunde in the semi-finals 2-0; in the final, on April 12, 1909, West Auckland faced Swiss side FC Winterthur and beat them 2-0 as well to take the trophy.

Two years later, West Auckland returned, and after beating FC Zürich 2-0, they ran out 6-1 winners in the final over future Italian giants Juventus. By the rules of competition, they were awarded the trophy to keep in perpetuity.

Upon their return home, the club was forced to pawn the trophy to the landlady of the local hotel because of financial problems. It remained with her family until 1960 when a village appeal raised money to return the cup to the club. The cup was then stolen in 1994 and despite the best efforts of local police and a £2,000 reward it was never found. An exact replica of the cup can now be found in a secure cabinet in the West Auckland Working Men's Club.

The story of the club's first success was turned into a television movie in 1981 – "A Captain's Tale", produced by Tyne Tees Television and starring Dennis Waterman.

History since

Debts forced the club to leave the Northern League in 1912 and fold, although in 1914 it was reconstituted as West Auckland Town F.C., which remains to this day.cite web | url=http://www.westaucklandtownfc.co.uk/history.asp | title=Club history | work=West Auckland Town FC website ] Although it has never quite reached the same heights it did at the start of the 20th century, it did win the Northern League in 1960 and 1961, and were FA Amateur Cup runners-up in 1961, losing to Walthamstow Avenue. They still remain rivals with Bishop Auckland F.C. to this day. Having been founded in 1889, the Northern League is the oldest surviving league after The Football League.

Honours

*Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy (World Cup) Winners - 1909 & 1911
*Northern League Champions - 1959/60
*Northern League Cup Winners - 1959/60 & 1962/63
*Durham Benevolent Bowl Winners - 1960/61 & 1962/63
*Durham County Cup Winners -1963/64
*FA Amateur Cup Finalists - 1960/61
*Northern League Division 2 Champions - 1990/91

References

External links

* [http://www.westaucklandtownfc.co.uk/ Official website]
* [http://www.westaucklandweb.co.uk/ West Auckland Village Website including the World Cup Pages]
* [http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/congress/9/worldcup.htm West Auckland: "World Cup" winners]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesl/lipton-trophy.html Results of the Thomas Lipton Trophy]
* [http://www.rsproductions.co.uk/tv/worldcup/ Football's First World Cup]