Bought yesterday at a local flea market.! This is a home made football cup with B.E.F. markings (from 1939 or early 1940 I presume) . It is a well known fact that during the phoney war British and French soldiers played football , but it's the first time I find a trench art made cup for such a game. Games went from small groups of soldiers playing together to official organised matches with officers and local authorities attending . Follow the links and see the effect of fottball on the morale of Britsh (and other nations) troops. http://spartacus-educational.com/2WWfootball.htm http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/10-facts-about-football-in-the-second-world-war http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205195308
WW1 you think? Were the British already named B.E.F then? WW1 would be just as good if not better . No further markings otherwise, It's rahter unique to say the least. Oh, yes the height is about 45 cm .
Thanks for the head up Adam I've seen mentions of a inter battalion/regiment cup in quite a few BEF war diaries from 39/40. I've got a feeling it was an Irish infantry battalion or a Guards battalion that one it. I'll see if I can pin point when it was - Possible March, April time. Just to make me really jealous how much did you pay for it?
Skip, a 1940-obsessed friend sees no reason to automatically associate it with football. Could be a variety of sports, or even, speculatively "part of the Padres kit". He's got a feeling it might be first war too, though I'm doubting we'd ever quite get to the bottom of dating. Unless... There's some identifiable munition used in it's construction. Whatever... I really rather like it. Wonder if the WW2 BEF might be more likely to have left such a thing behind, given their somewhat rushed departure.
He could be right, though a calice would most likely have a cross. It's quite a mystery. Left behind, given to a local, won by a French team , found in a ditch after the attack of a convoy, anything is possible. It's a cool item indeed.
