Announcement – Monday 1st April 2024
The Hampden Collection, the Football History Group, has hatched a plan to showcase the footballing world how a Scot designed and created the first European Championship in 1909, long before the first official European Championship was held in 1984.
Sir Thomas Lipton created a tournament aptly called the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, which was competed by four national footballing giants – England, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany – and was held in the Italian city of Turin. The inaugural tournament was held in 1909, and a further competition was held in 1911. This international tournament became the template for not only the European Championships, but the template for the FIFA World Cup, and is thanks to another visionary Scot.
The proposal came to light via an enquiry through The Hampden Collection website. Graeme Brown, The Hampden Collection Founder, explains, “We received a message from Professor Martine Noshitnie of The University of Boxenhop in Germany, and explained how she wanted to showcase this wonderful piece of history for the upcoming European Championships. With representatives of The Hampden Collection heading to Munich for the opening game, it was a complete no-brainer to help the Professor set up an exhibition for the Tartan Army to visit while they were in the city.”
David Coutts, Company Secretary of The Hampden Collection, explains further, “Members of our team are on the road to Munich, and when we heard there was an opportunity to put on another #Fitba150 event in the host city, we jumped at it. The exhibition will showcase one of the great Marketeers of the 19th and 20th centuries, and we will have our pals from the Friends of Southern Necropolis along to help tell Sir Tommy’s story, whose final resting place is in this cemetery located in the Gorbals.”
The Friends of Southern Necropolis have joined The Football’s Square Mile Alliance, and we are delighted they have jumped aboard to promote the legends buried within the cemetery, which they spend countless hours upkeeping.
David explains further on the plan, “Sir Thomas was known for his flamboyant marketing techniques, and we will re-create his most famous Glasgow exploit in Munich. At 1pm on Friday 14th June 2024, we will herd five pigs through the centre of Munich to highlight the opening of the Professor’s exhibition.”
Julie McNeill, Hampden Collection Poet In Chief, explains the impact of Martine’s story, “This year marks the 50-year anniversary of the lifting of the ban on women’s football in Scotland, and its important to showcase the work on and off the field of these amazing women, who once again are smashing glass ceilings to promote their work. I look forward to meeting Martine and giving her the platform she deserves to showcase her work to the masses.”
The extravaganza will finish in true Sir Tommy Lipton style, when Martine, and The Hampden Collection Team will take to the sky in a hot air balloon and issue bio-degrable exhibition leaflets to the fans below. This will conclude another fascinating and trailblazing #Fitba150 event.
Tickets for this event, which will include talks from Martine on her detailed research, a few history lessons on how Scotland invented the beautiful game, and a few poems from our legendary Poet In Chief Julie McNeill, are available on our website for a very limited time only………Until 12pm on April Fool’s Day.
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