On This Day – 12th April
It was on this day back in 1909 that West Auckland beat Swiss side FC Winterthur 2-0 in the Final of the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy.
The tournament is considered by some as first ever World Cup. If this is the case, ‘West Auckland’ is a correct answer at a pub quiz if the question of who won the first World Cup is asked!
There were two tournaments played for the Thomas Lipton Trophy. The first tournament was in 1909 and the second two years later in 1911.
Both were played in Turin in Italy and both were won by West Auckland.
The participants in the first tournament in 1909 were German side Stuttgarter Sportfreunde, West Auckland, a Torino XI from Italy and FC Winterthur of Switzerland.
The tournament was made up of two semi-finals played on the first day. The winners of the semi-finals would compete in the final the following day and the losing semi-finalists would compete in a third and fourth-placed play-off.
West Auckland beat Stuttgarter 2-0 and FC Winterthur beat the local Torino XI. West Auckland then won the Final 2-0 to lift the inaugural Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy and Torino XI beat Stuttgater 2-1 to finish in third place.
Two years later there were two new participants. The Torino XI became separate sides, rivals Torino and Juventus. FC Zurich crossed the border from Switzerland to be the fourth team in the tournament.
Previous winners West Auckland came back to defend their trophy.
West Auckland beat FC Zurich 2-0 to reach the Final and Juventus beat Torino. Torino won the third and fourth place play-off with FC Zurich, winning 2-1.
The Final was to prove very one-sided, with reigning champions West Auckland beating amateur side Juventus 6-1.
The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy was held in the West Auckland Working Men’s Club until January 1994 when it was stolen. The trophy has still not been found. A replica has been made and is on display in the West Auckland Town FC clubhouse.
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