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.
18-734: It is predated by the Torneo Internazionale Stampa Sportiva , 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
36-539: A year. Organised by Italian La Stampa Sportiva (a weekly sports supplement to newspaper La Stampa ), the Torneo Internazionale featured teams from Italy , France , Switzerland and Germany . All games were played in Turin , Italy. Swiss team Servette FC were eventual winners, beating Torino of Italy 3–1. The Italian football authorities, whilst pleased with the tournament, were aware that
54-550: Is promoted to the lower division of the Northern Premier League . The Northern league was one of many leagues formed the year after the Football League. In its first season, it consisted of ten clubs that were a mixture of professional and amateur organisations. During its early years, the competition included clubs such as Newcastle United , Middlesbrough and Darlington that would go on to play in
72-580: Is the second-oldest football league in the world still in existence after the English Football League . It contains two divisions; Division One and Division Two. Division One sits on the ninth tier of the English football league system , five divisions below the Football League. These leagues cover the historic counties of Durham , Northumberland , Cumberland , Westmorland and Yorkshire's North Riding . The champion club of Division One
90-913: The 1980s as its leading clubs defected to other leagues within the football pyramid, such as the Northern Counties East Football League . When the Northern League finally joined the pyramid, it was as a feeder league to the lower division of the Northern Premier League (Level 9). Since 1995, Northern League clubs have competed for the FA Vase , with some success, having won 11 finals, losing 4 finals. There were two all Northern League finals in 2012 (Dunston UTS beat West Auckland Town) and 2020 (Hebburn Town beat Consett). The League had an unusual sponsorship deal put in place by Brooks Mileson , owner of
108-480: The Albany Group, who were its sponsors in 2003. In that year, Mileson announced that he had created a trust which would continue to sponsor the league throughout his lifetime and that of his sons. In 2008, however, the league announced that this sponsorship had come to an end, and it held a raffle to determine its next sponsor. Interested parties were invited to buy a stake in the raffle for £250. The winning stake
126-491: The Football League. In 1905, the league split into two divisions, one professional and one amateur. The next year, however, the Northern League made the decision to abolish the professional division and restrict itself to amateur clubs, or at least clubs that claimed to be amateur. Between the World Wars and in the early years following World War II, the Northern League's amateur status meant that they and their equivalent in
144-520: The London area, the Isthmian League , dominated the old FA Amateur Cup . The two Leagues continued to be separate from the professional game which was dominated by the Football League, Southern League and, from 1968, the Northern Premier League. The Northern League and Isthmian League (with its feeder leagues) continued to claim amateur status right up until, following pressure, amateur status
162-687: The absence of an English team made the tournament not truly 'international'. Thomas Lipton agreed and, in a gesture of thanks to the Italians who had honoured him, donated the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy . He told them that he would organise an English team to participate in the next competition, that was held in 1909 . Lipton wanted a team from the Northern League in England to come over to Turin and his decision led to
180-414: The league comprised a single division. The champions were as follows: In 1897, the league briefly split into two divisions. In 1900, the league reverted to a single division. In 1905 the league split into two sections, one for professionals and one for amateurs. This lasted for a single season. In 1906 the league reverted to a single division, a format retained until 1982. In 1982
198-529: The participation of West Auckland FC from County Durham in the 1909 and 1911 tournaments. The team of miners won both these tournaments. West Auckland experienced a heavy penalty for their participation in the Trophy. A statue to their success stands in the centre of their village today. (Italian only) Northern Football League The Northern League is a British men's football league in north east England . Having been founded in 1889, it
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#1732779491544216-418: The story, Our Cup of Tea . Tyne Tees Television produced a dramatisation of the story in 1982, The World Cup: A Captain's Tale . Torneo Internazionale Stampa Sportiva The Torneo Internazionale Stampa Sportiva ( English : The Sport Press International Tournament ) was an early international football competition. Held in 1908, it predated the more famous Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy by
234-460: 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. In January 1994 the original trophy, which
252-579: The world, the Lipton Cup, an invitational, only featured a few club sides from Europe. 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
270-711: Was abandoned by the Football Association in 1974. This left amateur leagues like the Northern to find a place in the overall structure of non-League football . Unlike its southern equivalent, the Isthmian League, who became a feeder to the Alliance Premier League in 1982, the Northern League rejected repeated invitations. Ultimately, the Northern League remained out of the football pyramid until 1991. The league declined throughout
288-676: 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. 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
306-550: Was held by a local training company and the league was known as the skilltrainingltd Northern League from the 2008–09 season until the 2011–12 season. The league is currently sponsored by dehumidifier manufacturer Ebac . Level 11 clubs from the North Riding Football League , Northern Football Alliance and Wearside Football League may apply for promotion into the Northern League's Second Division (level 10). + indicates ground share Originally
324-433: 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 . Reports that it was intended to send Woolwich Arsenal , but that West Auckland were invited instead as they shared the same initials, are unlikely to be true; Italian reporting shows they were expecting a team from the Northern League. West Auckland won
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