Have you heard the one about the ‘World Cup winner’ who played against Dulwich Hamlet? 

Well, sort of. County Durham amateurs West Auckland FC famously won the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy in 1909 and then again in 1911. The competition, an invitational tournament held twice in Turin, featured elite club sides from Italy, Germany and Switzerland. With the development of football elsewhere not considered to be as advanced as the game being played in Europe at the time, these tournaments are considered by some to be the original World Cup’s – which is perhaps pushing it a little, but still.

In 1909, with the English FA declining an invitation to send a side, one of the tournament’s patrons, the British entrepreneur, tea magnate and sport enthusiast Sir Thomas Lipton, sent for the coal miners of West Auckland FC. Their team duly went on to lift the trophy after two triumphs in two days - both by a 2-0 scoreline. First they beat German side Stuttgarter Sportfreunde in the semi-final, before winning against Zurich based Swiss outfit FC Winterthur in the final on Saturday April 12th 1909. West Auckland then returned to Italy two years later to successfully defend their title. This time they beat a then amateur Juventus FC side 6-1 in the final on April 17th 1911 – and were awarded the trophy outright.

One player who featured in both victories was Tom Tucker Wilson – although you often won’t find that name in any of the records. The reason being that his father, William Gill Wilson, was known to all as ‘Billy Gill’ and it was widely assumed that his son Tom was also a Gill. So Tom usually answered to the name ‘Tucker Gill’.

He went on to play until he was 40, picking up FA Amateur Cup winners medals with Bishop Auckland in both 1921 and 1922. The first of those years also saw him crowned as a handball champion – sources differ as to whether this title was for becoming British champion or World champion. Handball a version of fives, that’s now largely confined to high end schools, was once very popular in the North East of England. Large crowds watched and large amounts of money was gambled. Handball has also been described as the Welsh national sport prior to the arrival of Methodism.

Hamlet met ‘The Two Blues’ of Auckland in the Amateur Cup in both 1920 and 1922. In 1920 Bishop Auckland returned north after being thrashed 5-1 by a Hamlet side that then went on to win the trophy. However, no team line-up has thus far been discovered to confirm the Bishop Auckland side that day.

Dulwich and The Bishops then met again in a 1922 semi-final. Before a 0-0 draw at Craven Cottage, the band had played ‘The Teddy Bears Picnic’, but in the replay at Darlington, it was the North East side who triumphed 3-0. In a hard fought contest, Bishop Auckland finished the match with just nine players having lost Stephen Freak to an injury just before half-time and then having Tommy Maddison sent off with fifteen minutes to go. Whilst no team line-ups have been found, reports state that Bishop Auckland were ‘full strength’, aside from one named change, making it highly likely that ‘Tucker Gill’ appeared against Hamlet in that match.

Whilst Tucker didn’t win a FIFA World Cup winners medal, it is quite possible that one man who does possess such a treasure played against Dulwich Hamlet on October 27th 1984. Without a fixture that day, Hamlet hastily arranged a friendly against a Spurs XI at the north London club’s Cheshunt training ground. Whilst Tottenham’s First XI – including goalkeeper Ray Clemence – were busy winning 4-1 against Stoke City, a second string Spurs lineup got a run out against Hamlet.

Whilst the game was announced in the north London press, Dulwich considered it a ‘behind closed doors' friendly and thus only certain people were alerted to its existence. But amongst those who did watch that day, are some who will state categorically that Argentina's 1978 World Cup winner Osvaldo Ardiles came on for the Tottenham side. Hamlet won 4-1 and Ardiles never appeared in the Spurs team subsequently listed in North London media reports. However, Ossie was coming back from a long-term injury at the time, so it’s quite possible that Tottenham boss Peter Shreeves quietly sanctioned his inclusion as an agreed extra substitute, far away from the media gaze and the eyeballs of the general public as well as potentially adoring Spurs fans unable to make it to White Hart Lane. 

The Tottenham team that was listed for the friendly was: Parkes; Danny Thomas, Toms, D. Martin, Ian Culverhouse, Ian Crook, Richard Cooke, Allan Cockram, David Leworthy, Danny Maddix and substitute M. Ryan. Four of the Spurs XI were just 16 years of age and whilst some went on to have good professional careers, others, such as Allan Cockram and David Leworthy, would instead become big names in non-league football.

What no-one could have anticipated, was that the most successful subsequent career trajectory of anyone there that day arguably belongs to a Hamlet supporting child. After signing for Dulwich Reserves from the DHFC Supporters Team,  Stephen Child (pictured above) then ceased playing altogether in order to pursue officiating. Rising through the ranks, he gained recognition as one of the world’s leading Assistant Referees, ultimately making the FIFA list before hanging up his flag in 2019.

With thanks to Roger Deason and the Dulwich Hamlet FC History Group