A long-lost football trophy prized by Black Country football teams in years gone by has been restored to its former glory after being rescued from a Sedgley woman’s attic.
Pensioner Kathleen Baker retrieved the historic Wolverhampton & District Alliance Football League Championship Cup from the loft at her Southerndown Road home. She handed over the battered cup to the Wolverhampton & District Combination League and officials have now had it restored and polished up for 2008.
Delighted Jim Blower, chairman of Birmingham County FA and treasurer of Wolverhampton Combination League, said today: “The battered and bent cup that we were given has now been straightened out and is back to looking its best.
“The last team to win the cup was Dudley Road Old Boys in 1938. We are now hoping to bring it back into use and have teams play for it again.
“It has come out of the blue really and it is wonderful to still have it around all these years after it was first played for.
“No-one knows much about the league because it is no longer in existence, but its memory will continue now with this cup.”
Mrs Baker said: “The cup belonged to my brother-in-law Stanley Parkes and when he passed away my sister gave it to me because she didn’t know what to do with it
“I really hope the league can put it up to be played for once again.”
The cup was played for from 1932 to 1939. It was stopped when the Second World War broke out.
The league never restarted after the war and it eventually disbanded in 1948.
The 68-year-old has handed the trophy to Wolverhampton & District Football Combination bosses after they got in touch on seeing her letters to the Express & Star about the cup. If put back into competition, the cup could become the second oldest in the league’s history after the Baker Cup, dating from 1910.
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