Huddersfield Town teamed up with fans, community groups and Hollywood star Sir Patrick Stewart to mark an important milestone in the club’s history.
They were at The Albert pub on Victoria Lane in Huddersfield town centre where the football club was founded 115 years earlier in a room on the second floor.
Mirfield-born Sir Patrick is an avid Town supporter and he unveiled an 18-inch cast aluminium blue plaque which states: “The first public meeting of Huddersfield Town Association Football Club was held at The Albert on 25th June, 1908. The club went on to become the first Thrice Champions of England.”
The plaque, which will be mounted on the pub’s outside wall in the coming weeks, is a joint initiative between Huddersfield Town, the Huddersfield Town Supporters’ Association, Huddersfield Civic Society and Huddersfield Modernist Society.
It forms part of a wider campaign to commemorate the club’s history and heritage from a comprehensive online archive to the recent purchase of 1920s player Tom Wilson’s medal collection who was centre back in the Town team that won the Division One title three consecutive times from 1923 to 1926. He also captained the Town team that won the FA Cup in 1922.
Sir Patrick said: “Friends who are aware I’m a football fan will all ask ‘who do you support? Manchester United? Chelsea?’ And I’ll say ‘no, Huddersfield Town’, and they will invariably go ‘…ah…’. I say, ‘oh, let me tell you! They are actually one of the most famous historical clubs in the United Kingdom. As it says here on the plaque, they were the first team to win three consecutive championships.
“Huddersfield has always been my club. I watch every match, usually 24 hours later. I’m always so proud to be acknowledged as being a Huddersfield Town supporter.
“They figured massively in my childhood and now there are people I have met all over California who I’ve talked to about Huddersfield Town Football Club because I drone on and on and on.”
Huddersfield Town chief executive Jake Edwards said: “Paying homage to our proud history has always been a key pillar of what chairman Kevin Nagle wants to achieve, especially during the anniversary of such a wonderful achievement as we look back on our Thrice Championships.”
A Huddersfield Town spokesman said: “In the words of the great Herbert Chapman, ‘the record of Huddersfield Town is truly a marvellous one.’
“We are proud to have played a part in celebrating that record – which includes an FA Cup and three consecutive first division titles – through joint initiatives such as this plaque and our Heritage Project.”
Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content and copywriting.
