Sunday 5 July 2009

A Surprise on the Common

I was on a recce at Wimbledon Windmill ahead of the open day next Sunday 12th July (help still appreciated!) and had a chat with Senior Keeper Bill Rowland. He was there when Wimbledon FC went into administration, leaving considerable debts to the Commons Conservators for rent at the Richardson Evans Training Ground. He was one of the group that - and steel yourself for this bit - had to break into the premises to see if there was anything worth recovering. To their way of thinking there wasn't much of any use. The players training kit with their initials went in the bin, documentation and items stored there...in the bin. Lesser trophies and medals from obscure events... mostly in the bin.

'Mostly' because Bill thought for a bit and said 'Actually I think there's an old one out the back. If I can find it, do you want it?' Well I didn't have to think too long or hard about that one before swiftly accepting! We went out to the back and there in the corner was a slightly battered, not too expensive looking cup with red and white ribbons. Some youth team trophy possibly?
The body of the cup is plated metal and the arms seem to be a sort of resin or plastic. The base though is solid marble and weighs a good few pounds. There was no engraving on the cup itself though, like previous winners etc.

But by far the most intriguing part of it was the name plate, currently residing in the bowl as the sticky has long since dried. You can see the details below.
What I'm wondering is who from Wimbledon FC was in Freetown to have it presented to them? What's the story behind this? I know there was an Ostrich egg in the returned patrimony (of which this is definitely NOT part) but Sierra Leon(e)? It's obviously been presented in the aftermath of the FA Cup triumph but was President Momoh a fan?

It might be nice to use it in a display next week but once its history has been sorted I'm sure there will be more than a few suggestions as to what to do with it.

1 comment:

Bert said...

I'm sure one of the Crabtree clan can confirm, but I'm pretty sure we may have played a game or two out there in the aftermath of the FA Cup win!