Long lost football shield returns to winning ways

A SCHOOLBOYS' football shield which had been "lost" for nearly 40 years has been awarded once again.

The League Shield was played for by young footballers in the Bristol and South Gloucestershire area from 1895 until 1974.

But teams stopped competing for it when local boundaries changed to Avon and Somerset – and the shield was lost.

Then in 1995 an exhibition of Bristol's history was held and an appeal was put into the Post by Mike Richards to find out where the long-lost League Shield was.

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Mr Richards had a call from St Bede's School in Lawrence Weston, who said they had the shield on their wall. They had been the last team to win it and nobody ever came to collect it from them.

After the exhibition it was returned to St Bede's and a spot on the wall by the boys' changing room.

But local football fan Steve Sutor campaigned for the shield to be reinstated. The 61-year-old Kingswood carpenter took the shield, along with team photos of past winners, to show Tim Shears, chairman of the Bristol Schools' Football Association. Mr Shears agreed to present it to the winning team of the under 15s league competition, which took place at the Fry Club in Keynsham this week.

The winning team was Bedminster Down, who beat City Academy on penalties.

Mr Sutor said: "The shield is beautiful. It is great to see it being resurrected."