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Source:
Shrewsbury local newspaper, September 4th 1969
Kindly supplied by Shrewsbury team member, Dave Moore
Text in report: "After dramatic K.O.
finish... Shrewsbury home with the Cup: Shrewsbury has brought home
the international 'It's a Knock-out' cup. The Shropshire team was the
first British team to reach the final in this contest (sic).
The cup comes to Shrewsbury because of a generous gesture
by the German team: they tied for first place with 32 points each. Then, a
decider game gave the Germans the cup. But the 100 million television
viewers who saw the TV broadcast live from Blackpool were confused. It
seems Shrewsbury was pipped at the post in the 'Jeux Sans Frontières'
final. In fact, Shrewsbury were declared joint winner of the 1969
competition. When the triumphant team arrived home last night, the
magnificent gold and amethyst trophy came too.
The German team, Wolfsburg, was presented with the trophy
in Blackpool on Wednesday night after winning a tie-breaker against
Shrewsbury at the end of the competition proper.
Decider: Thousands of British fans who packed
Blackpool's open-air swimming pool for the final thought Wolfsburg had won
overall. In fact, the decider game was merely to fix whose council chamber
the trophy would adorn for the next 12 months. At a reception later, it
was announced that the German team had decided to hand the trophy over to
Shrewsbury. Wolfsburg will now be presented with an exact replica of it.
The Shrewsbury team members knew at the presentations that
they and Wolfsburg were sharing the £4,000 and £2,000 prize money equally
But the whole team, officials and supporters, believed they had been
beaten to the title." |
