Coleshill Chronicle, 6 Nov 1964

Golden Return for Lost Trophy

Mr Stan Clives, secretary of the Sutton and District Football League, shakes hands with the league president, Mr NE Paulin, after handing over the gold cup.

Stan Clives, secretary of the Sutton and District Football League, was a proud man last week when he presented to league President Mr Norman Paulin, a gold cup.

It was the climax of months of research by Stan that had taken him through the history books of the County FA and through pages of data held in the custody of Birmingham Reference Library.

Slowly but surely the history of both the league – and of a long lost trophy – was unearthed. Now it can be told.

The Sutton League began way back in 1910 under the name of the East Birmingham League.  Its name was changed by consent of council on November 21, 1918.

It was on a visit to the office of BCFA secretary Mr Bob Eden that Mr Clives saw an old forgotten trophy standing on the filing cabinet.

A closer look – and a secret was out. It was the property of the Sutton League, Mr Clive found that the cup had been handed in by a Mr HJ Dore, who was traced as having been on the league’s list of referees in the early part of this century.

Stan took the trophy home and after long pondering decided to seek to put the cup into a glamorous “gold” coat.  And so, thanks to a fine piece of workmanship, the cup presented by Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland, the Sutton League’s first president, was reborn.

The trophy stands twenty inches high and is surmounted by a figure in football kit.  The engraving shows the league was formed in 1910 – providing a Golden Jubilee next year.

The President, Mr Paulin, receiving the cup, thanked Mr Clives for a “wonderful surprise”.  He said he was certain “endless pleasure would abound the glittering trophy.”