This year’s FA Community Shield will be a thoroughly modern affair, with treble-winning Manchester City battling it out against Premier League runners-up Arsenal for the first bragging rights of the 2023/24 season. But the history of the competition itself is as fascinating as any in football. And the origins of the Community Shield that Thomas Lyte, the Official Trophy and Silverware Supplier to The Football Association, lovingly restores on an annual basis, carry a story all of their own.
Some trophies are imposing, others are beautiful or carry striking features. Some, put simply, are big. Just ask those who had to carry the Sheriff of London Trophy to the venue hosting the forerunner to today’s Community Shield. Or, indeed, those charged with taking it to charity matches in the years that followed.
One such person is David Barber, the FA’s former historian, who was on hand in 1983 when Watford met the Corinthian Casuals for a charity match at Vicarage Road. It would be the last time the enormous trophy was played for.
Barber had unearthed the trophy at Lancaster Gate, the FA’s former home, after it had been collecting dust for over a decade.
David Barber, Former Historian for The FA
This magnificent piece of silverware was originally commissioned by the then Sir Thomas Dewar (later Lord Dewar) who was the Sheriff of London in 1898. After discussions with the FA and representatives from the amateur game, it was decided that the trophy would go to the winner of a match between the best professional side in England – nominally the league champions or FA Cup winners – and the top amateur side. All the proceeds from the match would then be donated to good causes, mirroring the aim of its modern-day equivalent.
The first game was played between Corinthians and Sheffield United. It didn’t get off to the most auspicious of starts, with the first game in the tournament’s history ending 0-0. The match was then replayed and finished 1-1, meaning the hulking great shield was shared. Who got to keep it for the longest is unrecorded, but there must have been some relieved backs when one team passed it back to the other.
The trophy would be played for on a regular basis until 1907, when Newcastle won it for the final time. A split between the FA and the amateur game led to a change in the original format and, from 1908 onwards, the game – known as the FA Charity Shield – would resemble its modern incarnation far more closely.
In 1959, the game assumed its now traditional place in the football calendar – proceeding the start of the league season by a week. In 1974, the game was also moved to Wembley. The first Charity Shield at the home of football was a spikey affair between Liverpool and a Leeds side managed by Brian Clough. The game saw both Kevin Keegan and Billy Bremner receive red cards.
The winners of the FA Community Shield in 2023 match at Wembley will receive a trophy re-designed and handcrafted in 2002 by Thomas Lyte in our London fine silver workshops. It’s considerably smaller than the original played for back in 1898 but, like the many of the sport’s most iconic prizes, it’s one befitting the occasion.
The Community Shield is the most famous season curtain-raiser in the global game – and its various trophies have a history to match. Thomas Lyte are proud to play a role in restoring and caring for these trophies, and also supply the medals for this celebrated football tradition.
Read about our press mentions and awards for the project
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