More teams wanted for annual Berwick Charities Cup football tournament

There were 21 sides split into seven groups of three with the winners of each group going into the quarter finals in 2023.

It costs just £30 a team to enter, with all the money going to good local causes. Email [email protected] or visit their Facebook page to enter your side.

Independent Durham side Cheesy Waffles FC, who raise awareness and understanding of SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities), won the competition last year beating Simpsons Malt 5-1 in the final.

Competition secretary Les Chappell has long been a popular figure in north Northumberland football and was the Divisional Northumberland FA representative for many years. His desire to keep the competition going, alongside a number of volunteers on the committee, has seen the long history of the Berwick Charities Cup continued.

The first football competition to be held on the Stanks was in May 1887. The Berwick shoemaker Mr. R.S. Purves offered a football as a prize to be played for by clubs ‘in and near’ the town.

Five teams entered the competition which took place over a fortnight of evenings on the pitch - Berwick Rangers, Border Swifts, Jubilee Wanderers, Scottish Borderers, and Scremerston. It’s unrecorded who won the ball.

The Short Challenge Cup began in 1889 and was renamed the Berwick Charity Cup in 1894. Berwick Rangers reserves beat Berwick Athletic 1-0 at Shielfield to win the silverware that year.

The gentleman T.R. Short of Berwick gave the first trophy and the competition was originally for clubs within a 30-mile radius of the town.

A charity competition was played on the Stanks in 1910 when K.O.S.B beat Berwick Amateurs 3-1 in the final that June and both sides grumbled about the performance of the referee. The clubs that took part in the competition were K.O.S.B., Fenwick Park Villa, Tweedside Villa, Berwick Cycling Club, Berwick Amateurs, Stenographers, Tweedmouth N.E.R., Park Internationals, Border Star, Eyemouth Swifts, and G.P.O.

There was another Charity Cup in the town, authorised by the SFA, and the winners of that competition in 1908 were Spittal Wolves. It was won in subsequent years by Dock View, Woodyard, and Rangers Thursday, but seems to have gone before WW1.

The Berwick Infirmary Cup, which became the Charities Cup as we know it today, began in 1922. The early winners were: 1922 and 1923. Spittal Hearts; 1924, Depot K.O.S.B.; 1925, 1926, Spittal Rovers; 1927, Wooler; 1928, Berwick Bohemians; 1929, Eyemouth Rangers; 1930, Spittal Rovers; 1931, Scremerston Village; 1932, Spittal Rovers; 1933, Depot K.O.S.B.; 1934, 1935, Spittal Council O.B.; 1936, Tweedside Co-operative; 1937, Seahouses; 1938, Eyemouth Rangers; 1939, Holy Island; 1940-44, no contest; 1945, 6th I.T.C.; 1946, Eyemouth United; 1947, West End United; 1948, Roxburgh United (Spittal); 1949, Seahouses Harbour Lights; 1950, Duns Hearts; 1951, 1952, Coldstream Hearts; 1953, Red Lion United (Spittal).