11th SEPTEMBER

11th September 1895: The FA Cup, nicknamed "the Little Tin Idol," was won by Aston Villa the previous season. It was stolen from a Birmingham shop window, where it had been proudly on display. It has never been recovered. The FA Cup is the world's oldest association football competition and since its beginning, the winner has taken possession of the cup itself for the year, holding onto it until another team wins the tournament. Needless to say, it is worth a fortune. In 1895, Aston Villa beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 and to share the accomplishment with their supporters, Villa displayed the cup in the window of a local football equipment shop, owned and named William Shillcock. 

When Mr. Shillcock arrived at work on the morning of 11th September, he discovered that his shop had been robbed. Not only did the thieves steal a small amount of money, they also took the cup. A £10 reward was offered for information leading to the cup's recovery, it was never located. The FA eventually fined Villa £25 to replace it. The new trophy was used until 1910 and is currently located in the National Football Museum in Preston. In 1958, an 83-year old former criminal, named Harry Burge confessed to the theft, saying he melted the cup down to make counterfeit coins. Despite his admission, however, he could provide no evidence linking him to the crime and went unpunished.

Tuesday 11th September 2001: The world news was dominated by the tragedy that was unfolding in New York with the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Football just didn't seem to have any importance when compared to what was happening on the other side of the Atlantic. But of course there was a debate about how football should respond to the horror. On one hand, should football matches be postponed out of respect to those who had suffered so much, while on the other hand should football continue in defiance to those who wanted to destroy the society we were part of. 

That afternoon, the Charterhouse 1st XI (U18s) played a Hampshire Schools' U18 XI on Big Ground at 2.15 and the game ended 1-1. I remember greeting our opposition at our Sports' Centre with the news of the disaster on the television.

In England on the night of 9/11 the two scheduled League matches at Wrexham (v Bury) and Plymouth (v Swansea) plus 15 League Cup fixtures went ahead - as did all the other scheduled League and League Cup matches over the following days - although they were preceded by a minute's silence. A minute's silence also preceded matches played in the Champions League and UEFA Cup matches played on that Tuesday evening. Two of those matches involved English clubs in the Champions League - Arsenal lost 0-1 away to Mallorca while Liverpool drew 1-1 at Anfield against Portugal's Boavista. Liverpool were back in Europe's top competition for the first time since suffering a tragedy of their own, at Heysel in 1985. UEFA then postponed the 51 Champions League and UEFA Cup matches scheduled for Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th with the promise of compensation to all the away sides to recoup wasted  travelling expenses.