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 world's first international footballing competition, twice, in 1909 and 1911. Football (soccer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... West Auckland is a village in County Durham, in North East England. ... County Durham is a county in north-east England. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Official logo The Northern League (currently sponsored by the Arngrove Insurance and known as the Arngrove Northern League) is a football league in North East England for semi-professional and amateur teams. ... The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy was a football (soccer) competition that took place in Turin, Italy in 1909. ... 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ...

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. Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton (born May 10, 1850 in Glasgow; died October 2, 1931 in London), Scottish self-made man, merchant and yachtsman who created the famous Lipton tea brand and was the most persistent challenger in the history of the Americas Cup. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... The Football Association (The FA) is the governing body of football in England and the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. ... This article is about mineral extraction. ... Official logo The Northern League (currently sponsored by the Arngrove Insurance and known as the Arngrove Northern League) is a football league in North East England for semi-professional and amateur teams. ...

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. Arsenal Football Club (also known as Arsenal, The Arsenal or The Gunners) are an English professional football club based in Holloway, north London. ... From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football. ... The Football League is an organisation representing 72 professional football clubs in England and Wales, and runs the oldest professional football league competition in the world. ...

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. Torino redirects here. ... April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). ... 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... FC Winterthur is a Swiss football club based in Winterthur. ...

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. Fussballclub Zürich (or FCZ) is a football club from Zurich, Switzerland, founded 1896. ... Juventus Football Club (Latin for Youth, pronounced yoo-VEHN-toos) is one of Italys oldest and most successful football clubs, based in Turin. ...

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. 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ...

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. Telefilm redirects here. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television contractor for North East England. ... Dennis in The Sweeney For the character in Little Britain, see Dennis Waterman (Little Britain). ...

The club still exists today. 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. 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... Walthamstow Avenue F.C. was a London football club, founded in 1900. ...

2006-07 Squad

Mark Bell GK Phil Owers GK James Middleton DF Leigh Grant DF Gerard Wraith DF Michael Heckley DF Brian Fairhurst DF Kevin Bromley MF Andy Cole MF Karl Everitt MF Danny Key (Captain) MF Ian Maddison MF Danny Richmond MF David Bayles (Player/Manager) MF Gary Barnes FW Dale Jardine FW Darren Kokes FW Jonathan Milroy FW

External links

• Official website
• West Auckland: "World Cup" winners
• Results of the Thomas Lipton Trophy