Wednesbury Charity Cup


The Wednesbury Charity Cup was an early football competition held from 1880 - eight years before the foundation of the Football League - for teams from the West Midlands region of England. The competition was conceived and initiated by Isaak Griffiths, a businessman and magistrate from Wednesbury. Money raised from the competition went to local causes.

Trophy

Winners were awarded a solid silver trophy, on which the name of each year's winning team was engraved. The cup was made by Walker and Hall of Birmingham and hallmarked in 1879, and is topped by a figure of Charity It cost £100, paid for by public subscription.
The trophy weighs nearly and is tall.
In 2016, a member of the public offered the trophy, in poor condition, to Bowjangles, a jewellery shop in Wednesbury, for scrap. Bowjanges owner Aaron Sheldon recognised its provenance and arranged for the trophy to be restored by Crescent Silver in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, a process which took five months. The newly-restored trophy was sold at auction by Cuttlestones Auctioneers and Valuers of Wolverhampton, on 2 December 2016, for £7,250.
The first name engraved on the trophy is "Stafford Road, Wolverhampton 1880" and the last "Cradley Town 1991".

Winners

DateWinnerScoreRunners–upVenueAttendanceRefs
1880Stafford Road
1881Wednesbury Old Athletic
1882Wednesbury Old Athletic
19 May 1883Nottingham Forest5–3West Bromwich AlbionPerry Barr4,000
1884Wednesbury Town Strollers2-2
3-0 		Nottingham Forest1400
1885Birmingham Excelsior
1886Walsall Town
1887Wednesbury Old Athletic
1888Wednesbury Old Athletic
1889Wednesbury Old Athletic
1890Wednesbury Old AthleticWest Bromwich Albion reserves
1891Wednesbury Old Athletic
1892Singers FC - Coventry
1894West Bromwich Albion reserves4–0NewportWellington
1913Walsall FC
1914-1918No competition due to World War I
1921Walsall FC
1922Walsall FC
1923Walsall FC
1969Pelsall Villa
1970Pelsall Villa
1974Pelsall Villa
1980Tipton Town
1981Tipton Town
1982Bilston Town
1983Bilston Town
1985Bilston Town
1989Pelsall Villa
1991Cradley Town