Sheriff of London Charity Shield
| Sheriff of London Charity Shield | |
|---|---|
| Status | inactive |
| Genre | sporting event |
| Frequency | annual |
| Country | UK |
| Inaugurated | 1898 |
| Most recent | 1983 |
The Sheriff of London Charity Shield was an English football competition played annually between an amateur club and a professional club.
The first game was played on 19 March 1898, after being devised by Sir Thomas Dewar. Proceeds from the annual game were distributed to hospitals and charities.
The competition was short-lived, due in part to the dominance of the professional sides, and also to a rift in the Football Association that saw the creation of the Amateur Football Association. The shield was discontinued in 1907, although the charitable spirit of the trophy was continued by the FA Charity Shield. It was resurrected twice – once in the 1930s and again in the 1960s.
There was a one-off game played between Watford (current holders) and Corinthian Casuals in 1983. Watford ran out as 6–1 winners.
The shield itself, commissioned by Dewar, was over six feet high – the largest trophy to be competed for in the history of football. In the 1980s, the trophy was put up for auction and sold for £26,000 to a private American owner. It is on display in the Watford Museum.
Contents
List of champions
First incarnation
- 1898 Corinthian & Sheffield United shared
- 1899 Aston Villa & Glasgow side Queens Park shared
- 1900 Corinthian
- 1901 Corinthian
- 1902 Tottenham Hotspur
- 1903 Sunderland
- 1904 Corinthian
- 1905 The Wednesday
- 1906 Liverpool
- 1907 Newcastle United
Second incarnation
- 1931 Arsenal
- 1932 Not contested
- 1933 Arsenal
- 1934 Tottenham Hotspur
Third incarnation
References
- Sunderland A.F.C.: The Official History, Paul Days, 1999
