Football ("soccer") is a sign of U.S.A.’s moral decay

and me, in 1997, about a fortnight before the auction......

and the cat......

And of course there's the legend of the perfidious Brits inventing the whole scheme -very english detective dog and all- just to keep the original Jules Rimet Trophy for themselves.

At least that is a widespread rumor in this side of the Atlantic.

No, I can assure you that it was a replica.

It was made by a silversmith on behalf of the FA. The same smith who made the FA Cups for them.
The original was under the tightest security after it went walkies, and it was this replica that went round with the England team after the tournament, when they went to various events around the country.

The original never saw the light of day again, until it went to Brazil. It was strongly suggested to me that it was even the replica that was held up in Wembley, by Bobby Moore in 66.

Bobby Moore holding a replica was the start of the rumor.
He held the replica. The replica was shown as the real thing. The replica was sent to Mexico and given to the winners of the 1970 Cup. In Brazil, the thieves stole the replica.
Meanwhile, the nasty Brits have the original kept in some dungeon.

Poet and Pulitzer winner Charles Simic, on the reasons of any loss in football:

"On Losing"

"...
1. It was all the fault of the referee. He was either incompetent, or was pressured not to see what was being done to us, since the FIFA leadership and the big money aligned behind them have their own ideas about whom they want to see in the final.

2. Our coach is an idiot. He left our best players at home or on the bench, ordered the team to attack when they ought to have played defense, and made them play cautiously when they ought to have gone for broke.

3. Our players are overpaid prima donnas who are unable to fully concentrate on the game because they are thinking about their girlfriends, their vacation homes, and the millions in their bank accounts.

4. For the nationalists, the decline of the nation is the primary cause. Immigrant players of all races have diluted the native stock and turned us into a bunch of sissies. We no longer know how to work and fight together as we once did.

Except for the completely inane reason four, these excuses each contain an element of truth... "

I would say soccer is more violent than baseball.

It's a shame too. I miss really savage headhunters like Bob Gibson and...wait, I just killed a fly!

Can we talk about something else? I'm bored.

Why would it be kept in a dungeon? What's it done wrong?

Its seams aunt Annie nonsense hasn't yet noticed we are living in a globalized world...who the **** reads her anyway, Sarah Palin ? America is full of surprises, it never ceases to amaze me...

Why is it moral decay to be non American, anyway?

I dunno.
But it is known that the British have damp dungeons where they keep some of the treasures they ripped from the rest of the world.
Oh, and the other stolen treasures are in the British Museum.

Quite honestly the stolen treasures are well cared where they are currently...a great deal of them probably wouldn't be here if they weren't stolen in the first place. Of course none of this goes with the establishment nor should it be spelled out loud, the more reason for me to say it anyway.

Ripped off, fbaezer. Yup, the Brits were the precursors to the USians.

That's very imaginative, I must say.

The replica was kept (and owned) by the silversmith's firm. The reason I know this is because the smith concerned was the father of a very good friend of ours.

He had a wonderful time during 66 and 67, as whenever a football dinner was being held somewhere by the FA, he would get a phone call and asked to bring along the replica cup.
He was paid a sum for each "appearance", sat down and fed with the rest of them, and driven to and from each time, no matter where it was.
On one occasion, they even flew him down to Monaco and put him up in a hotel.
The only condition was that he kept the secret, so that everyone would still be under the impression that it was the real thing, as opposed to a gold plated fake.
It was never purchased by the FA, just "hired" from the firm that my friend's dad worked for.
Finally, when the real world cup was sent to the next World Tournament and formally handed over to the new "keepers", the FA asked that the replica be destroyed. As they didn't own the replica, they couldn't insist.

The firm kept it (in a dark coloured leather container, with padded blue silk interior.....I know this because I was the first person to open it (apart from the family) when it was "rediscovered" in 1997.

They kept it in this container, on my friend's dad's desk for about ten years, until he retired, whereupon they gave it to him as part of his retirement present. It wasn't worth much as scrap value, with the lapis lazuli pedestal probably the most valuable part.
He put it under his bed, and when he died, our friend (and her brother) inherited it.
She stored it in the cupboard under her stairs and there it stayed until one night when we all massed round there for dinner, too much wine was drunk and she told us the story.
When I asked what happened to the replica, I almost fell off the chair when she said it was "under the stairs".
It took a while to find it, but when I blew the dust off the box and opened it, I nearly dropped the thing.
There were only two guys there that evening, and six or so women who were all teachers and who were not in the slightest bit interested in football.

The two of us, in the end, took the "owner" to one side and finally convinced her to get it professionally valued. At one point of the conversation, she (who was quite an expert on proper jewellry, having been educated by her dad) laughed when I said it was worth well over a thousand, and told me that if I gave her a thousand, I could have it!

She was a bit drunk at the time, and I knew she wouldn't part with a sentimental object like that for pennies, so I just recommended that she get it valued and that was that.
The evening was then spent with various drunken people holding it up like Bobby Moore, and various photos being taken.

I actually drank beer out of the thing!


About a month later, she walked into the staffroom at her (and my wife's) school, and said that a man had valued it at around £20,000, because the provenance was so good.
The cup's history had been confirmed in writing by two of her dad's old colleagues, and she had to submit a written afadavit herself if she wanted it to go to auction.
She consulted with her brother and he agreed, and the cup eventually sold for over £200k, which she split with her brother.

As far as she was told, it was a bidding war between the Brazilian FA (or possibly FIFA, but she's sure she was told it was Brazil), and a multi millionaire who owned sports cafes around the world.
Apparently, according to the Auction House, it was the cafe owner who won.
Whether he then sold it on to FIFA eventually, who knows? But it was definitely NOT sold to any football authority at the auction itself.

She retired from teaching not long after, and we went round to her house for a grand retirement party. During the evening, she got us to all stand and drink a toast to her dad, for giving her a happy retirement fund.

So, dungeons and dragons don't come into it at all.

A cupboard under the stairs held the secret until a little too much red wine loosened a knowing tongue.

So, did you get your thousand pounds? I mean, half percent of sale.

Ha!

She'd sobered up and forgotten her deal by the following day, so I remain penniless!

You're letting your imagination run riot. Keeping treasures in a 'damp dungeon,' wouldn't be good for them. The only dungeons over here are tourist attractions.

We're not the only ones who do it. Winnie the Pooh is still being held captive in a museum in New York.

I don't want to let Ann of the hook quite yet. She's could be a certified nutcase, I'm hoping one day her pent up anger over anything not Ann-worthy will make her head expload. Preferably on air during an interview with (who, who, who?) well as long as they catch it on camera, I'll be happy.

It sounds as if you have a lot of pent up anger yourself, GB.