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National Football Museum's FA Cup exhibition goes to Bolton
The National Football Museum's touring exhibition Saved for the Nation: The Story of the FA Cup now continues its national tour appearing at Bolton Museum and Art Gallery from 14 March - 23 May 2009. See www.boltonmuseums.org.uk for more information.
“It is fitting that the exhibition comes to Bolton as the town has a long and proud association with the F.A. Cup”, says Ben Whittaker, Collections Rationalisation officer at Bolton Museum. “A special part of the exhibition focuses on this Bolton connection, and the National Football Museum has been kind enough to lend us some extra items that help to tell this story. Our visitors have a wonderful opportunity to see some iconic football objects”
The exhibition is a celebration of the world's oldest and most loved football competition and includes features on:
- How and why the FA Challenge Cup was created in 1871/72
- The great FA Cup teams, players and goals, including film footage
- Great upsets and the most famous underdogs in the competition's history
The centre piece of the exhibition is the 1896 FA Cup trophy, the oldest surviving one, perhaps the most important single item of English football memorabilia. The exhibition explains the stories behind:
- The famous theft and permanent loss of the first FA Cup trophy in 1895
- The commissioning of the new trophy with the same design in 1896
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The great teams that won the trophy between 1896 and 1910: Sheffield Wednesday (twice); Aston Villa (twice); Nottingham Forest; Sheffield United (twice); Bury (twice); Spurs; Manchester City; Everton; Wolves; Manchester United; Newcastle
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The decision to retire the trophy in 1910, present it as a gift to the FA President Lord Kinnaird, and the development of a new design for the FA Cup trophy that has continued in use from 1911 until today
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The purchase of the 1896 trophy at auction in 2005 by Mr David Gold, Bimingham City Chairman, and his aim to ‘save it for the nation'
Local fans are particularly looking forward to seeing the shirt worn by Bolton Wanderer's star Ralph Banks in the 1953 FA Cup Final.
The exhibition will then continue its national tour, opening next at Leeds City Museum on 18 July 2009.
A National Touring Exhibition supported by:
In Association with: Mr David Gold
This National Football Museum national touring exhibition was developed in response to the opportunity to have on long-term loan from its new owner, Mr David Gold (Birmingham City Chairman and Co-owner), and display for the first time in 95 years, the oldest surviving FA Cup trophy used during FA Cup finals between 1896 and 1910.
David Gold bought the 1896 FA Cup at auction in May 2005. Mr Gold was determined that the Cup would not be bought by an overseas buyer. At the time there was interest in the trophy from all over the world, particularly Germany. He paid £478,400 for the trophy. Commenting on his purchase, he said, “I bought it on behalf of the nation's football fans. I was in a lucky position of being able to preserve a historic piece of British sporting memorabilia”.