West Auckland FC to play Juventus

Jun 12 2009 by Neil McKay, The Journal

NON-LEAGUE West Auckland FC are following in the footsteps of their forefathers to play Italian giants Juventus.

The club can’t afford the airfare to the game in Turin, so are facing a long journey over land and sea.

The one-off football match between County Durham club and the Italians has been scheduled for Saturday, August 1.

The game is to commemorate the centenary of West Auckland winning the first ever World Cup.

But just as they did 100 years ago, players, officials and supporters will face a long journey over land and sea to the game after club officials described the air fare as “exorbitant”.

Instead of flying they will leave by coach from West Auckland at 11pm on the Thursday before the game, and return from Turin at 2pm on the Sunday. The package costs £250 including two nights hotel bed and breakfast and transfer to the match, which will be played against a Juventus youth team at the club’s training ground about 30 miles from Turin.

West Auckland’s claim to immortality came after the original invitation to the inaugural World Cup competition was offered to the English Football Association, who were asked to nominate a team, but they declined.

Tea magnate Sir Thomas Lipton, who provided the trophy, insisted that Great Britain was represented and it is thought that an employee of his recommended West Auckland.

Then, as now, the team was in the Northern League but it funded its own trip to Italy to represent Great Britain where it won the trophy without conceding a goal, beating FC Winterthur of Switzerland 2-0 in the final on April 12, 1909.

Two years later they returned to Turin and beat Juventus 6-1 to win the Sir Thomas Lipton trophy outright. West Auckland had wanted a re-match with Juventus, the most successful team in the history of Italian football to mark the centenary of the first World Cup, but for a while the game was in doubt when the Italians said they were unable to fit a match into their schedule last season.

But, with the assistance of the British Consul in Milan, August’s game has been arranged against a Juventus junior side.

West Auckland have a double reason to be cheerful. They managed to avoid the ignominy of having to face the two times European Cup winners and 27-times Italian champions as members of the SkilltraingingLtd Northern League second division.

They were due to be relegated after finishing third from bottom of the first division.

But they were saved at the last minute by the resignation from the league of Sunderland Nissan after the credit crunch forced the car manufacturer to axe its football team.