This set of three medals, which arrived with us late last week, were all awarded to to former West Auckland Town FC goalkeeper J.H. Tweddle in the early 20th century.
They include a Durham County FA medal by Vaughton, and a West Auckland winners medal by Fattorini & Sons of Bradford.
In 1909, West Auckland Town would enter the football history books by winning the tournament widely regarded as the first ever World Cup, beating FC Winterthur 2 – 0 in Turin.
Two years later, the amateur side made up predominantly of local coal miners would go on to defend their title by beating Juventus 6 – 1. More on this impressive history can be found here.
Unfortunately it would appear that Tweddle was no longer playing in goal for West Auckland by 1909.
The third medal is actually an enameled Queen Victoria Shilling from 1887 – whether this was just a lucky keepsake, or was awarded in relation to his football career, sadly we don’t know.
