So, I was cleaning out my grandad’s old shed the other weekend. Just boxes and boxes of stuff, mostly junk. But tucked away in a corner, under a pile of old newspapers, I found this small, kinda tarnished medal. Didn’t look like much, but it had this little winged figure on it. Got me thinking, you know?
I brought it inside, cleaned it up a bit. Couldn’t figure out what it was for. It just looked… old. And important, somehow. That winged figure reminded me of something, but I couldn’t place it. So, I started digging around online. Just typing in descriptions, “old medal winged figure,” stuff like that. Took ages.
Eventually, I stumbled onto pictures of the old World Cup trophy. The Jules Rimet one. Bingo. The figure looked really similar. Not identical, mind you, this medal was way smaller and simpler, but the vibe was there. That got me curious about the real trophy.
Diving Deeper
I went down a bit of a rabbit hole then. Started reading all about this Jules Rimet guy and the trophy itself. Turns out, the story’s wilder than I thought.
- First off, making the thing. It was gold-plated silver, apparently, with a special base. Looked pretty fancy in the old black and white photos I found.
- Then there’s the whole hiding-it-during-the-war thing. Some Italian dude supposedly kept it under his bed in a shoebox so the Nazis wouldn’t find it. Can you imagine?
- And the thefts! Stolen once in England before the ’66 World Cup. Found by a dog named Pickles! I spent a good hour just reading about that dog.
- Then it got stolen again in Brazil back in the 80s. And this time, poof, gone for good. Melted down, most people reckon. What a waste.
I even tried sketching the trophy, just based on the photos I could find. Wanted to see if I could capture that shape, that winged figure. It’s harder than it looks. Getting the proportions right, the pose. Gave me a new appreciation for the folks who actually made the original.
So, what about the medal? Honestly, after all that reading about the real deal, the medal seemed less important. Probably just some old commemorative thing, maybe from one of the early tournaments, or even just a souvenir someone bought. It wasn’t the actual trophy hidden in my grandad’s shed, that’s for sure.
But it was a weirdly fascinating journey. Started with a dusty shed, ended up learning about hiding trophies from Nazis and hero dogs finding stolen goods. Never know what you’ll find when you start digging, I guess. Still got the medal, though. It’s a good reminder of that weird weekend deep dive into football history triggered by cleaning out some junk.
