Senior Shield

C.I. Badge

1918 Senior Cup Winners Medal

C.I. Badge

The Football Shield

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The C.I. and St. Edward’s successes in the Liverpool Schools Shield 1917-29

The Liverpool Schools Shield, is probably the oldest city schools knock-out football competition in the world. It started in 1894/5 with the impressive Senior Shield trophy donated by Everton FC. The finals were played at Goodison Park. In 1916 Liverpool FC presented a Junior Shield with that final played at Anfield. Both competitions continue to the present day. When the Christian Brothers took over the running of the C.I. they emphasized the importance of participation in sport as an essential part of education. In 1907/08 season the school entered the Shield Competition for the first time. The college magazines from then on record the sterling efforts of the school teams in the competition. They reached the Senior final in 1912 and 1913 but it was not until 1917 that they achieved success at Anfield in the Junior Shield. The following year, 1918, the senior team won the Senior Shield at Goodison. They won the Senior again in 1919, but lost to SFX in the 1920 final.

As you know the college moved from Hope Street to St. Domingo Road in 1920 and became St. Edward’s College. In the period 1917 to 1929 the C.I./St. Edwards teams won the Senior Shield three times and won, or shared, the Junior Shield five times. The college magazines record sporting activities at all levels but the Shield winners received the most plaudits – the match reports and the reception of the trophies at the subsequent school assemblies record the enthusiasm of the whole school for their successes. The support of the team was fervent – sometimes up to 80% of the school was reported present at matches, together with many relatives, friends and old boys.

We are writing up the story of these Shield achievements. We feel that many of their descendents today would be interested to read about the players and staff involved and to appreciate the environment in which the games were played. There are references to the playing fields, the weather, the ‘flu epidemic and the quality of refereeing – nothing changes! Their visits all over Liverpool and across the water were reported. Readers today will also note the differences in the way the matches were played with no injury replacements and not settling draws with penalty shoot-outs etc. Overall there was great enthusiasm for success in the Shield – it is part of our history and the story will inspire today’s teams

We have photographs of the Junior winners from 1917, 1919 and 1929 and Senior winners from 1918 and 1929. We have most of the team names and match reports. The 1921 Junior Shield final is a problem. We know whom they beat in the final, the score, bringing the trophy into the college assembly but at present we only know one player’s name because his medal has been handed down – who are the others in this team? To complete the story we need your help with anything about the Shield in those years, not just 1921. Copies of any family stories and photographs of teams or medals would be very welcome. Your photographs may be in better condition than those we have. Have a look in any old magazines and photo albums. Let’s hear from you “Akay, Akay, Akay”!!!

This is a new project and if anyone can help with updates and corrections, please contact the following e-mail numbers.

Email: spiresgate@gmail.com
or
huntscross2@gmail.com