We've Got Best Trophy Room In The Whole World

Jan 20 2008 By Euan Mclean

THE crown jewels of Scottish football have been gathered at Hampden for the world's biggest ever collection of national trophies.

A dazzling array of silverware worth around £2million will be on display at the Scottish Football Museum until May.

Dedicated staff spent four months scouring the country to gather more than 60 trophies spanning all levels - from the famous Scottish Cup and Scotland's last success, the Kirin Cup, to lesser known silverware from the junior, amateur and juvenile games.

They hope to add the SPL trophy, League Cup and First Division trophy before the end of the season - but curator Richard McBrearty is convinced they already have the most significant trophy room in world football.

He said: "Apart from one or two trophies we feel we have the bulk of what could be considered THE national collection.

"It would also be fair to claim it's the biggest of its kind in the world.

"Gathering so many trophies was a massive task, done primarily by our collections manager Kenny Strang who had to do a lot of negotiations with clubs and organisations.

"But it has been worth it because some of the trophies we have on display like the Scottish Cup and Ayrshire Cup take you right back to the cradle of the game in the 1870s.

"So it's important that over the next four months as many people as possible get the chance to see the collection. Nomatter who comes to the museum there may be a trophy here they played for or have an affiliation to."

While the likes of the Scottish Junior, Scottish Amateur and the old Skol Cup will be familiar to most football fans perhaps the most interesting piece is the stunning Glasgow Charity Cup.

Commissioned a couple of years after the Scottish Cup's inception in 1873 it's far grander and more elaborate than its more famous predecessor. The reason being that the wealthy Glasgow merchants who set up the competition to raise money for good causes in the British Empire's "second city" could afford a more expensive trophy.

So it's incredible to think that while the SFA's trophy is revered as the oldest national cup in the world the Charity Cup fell into obscurity and was lost for 30 years.

McBrearty explained: "The Charity Cup was a big competition until after the Second World War but the onset of top European competition brought about its decline in the early 1960s.

"In later years in an effort to attract better crowds they changed the format to a Glasgow Select playing against the likes of Manchester United and Leeds.

"We have a picture of Sir Matt Busby holding the cup after his team had won but the last time it was played in 1966 the match finished in a draw between Glasgow and Leeds so they were given the trophy to share.

"After a while it was put in a huge walk in safe at the SFA's old office at Park Gardens and people forgot where it was.

"It was only when the Scottish Football Museum was being established in the mid 1990s that a guy called Ken Gibb tried to track it down.

"He eventually found it but because the cup is silver and hadn't been cleaned for 60 years it was pot black. It took a lot of elbow grease to polish it back to the beautiful condition it's in now."

Another interesting addition is the beautifully ornate North of Scotland Cup that would give any captain a hernia because it is full of concrete in its lower half to support the weight of the solid silver top.

But the jewel in the crown will always be the Scottish Cup which remains permanently at Hampden while the winning club gets a replica for the year. McBrearty added: "It's the oldest trophy in Association Football and the oldest national trophy in the world too.

"Looking closely at it tells the story of the birth of our game.

Rangers' name does not appear on the cup, only the base, while Celtic take the last slot.

"The other names are mainly Queen's Park and Vale of Leven.

Queen's dominated early doors but that changed in 1893 when professionalism was introduced."

lThe Scottish Football Museum at Hampden is open seven days a week. For more information call 0141 616 6139.