Leverstock Green Presented With Memorial Trophy
The Sir Stanley Rous Memorial Trophy recognises significant achievements from across Hertfordshire football over the previous season
Leverstock Green were presented The Sir Stanley Rous Memorial Trophy ahead of their Charity Cup tie against Hadley. This was in recognition of their achievement in having gained promotion last season to reach Step 4 of the football pyramid.
The trophy has been awarded annually since 2002 to the club, organisation, Match Official, or an individual, who has “brought the most prestige to Hertfordshire for achievements in the recently concluded season”.
It is named in honour of Sir Stanley Rous, a former Hertfordshire FA Council Member and Secretary of The FA who was FIFA President between 1961 and 1974 and is voted for by the members of our Competitions Committee.
We congratulate Leverstock Green on their promotion and wish them the best of luck as they face the challenge of competing at this level for the first time in their history.
Remembering Sir Stanley Rous
Stanley Rous was born in 1895 in Suffolk and after serving in the Royal Field Artillery in World War 1 he moved to Hertfordshire to take up a teaching post at Watford Boys Grammar School. In the early days of his career in football administration he was the General Secretary of the West Herts Football League and served as a Council Member of the Hertfordshire FA.
Despite never holding a senior post there his football administration skills took him on to the Football Association where he served as Secretary from 1934 until 1962. From there he progressed onto the Committees within FIFA and was elected as the 6th FIFA President in 1961 a position he held until 1974.
Sir Stanley Rous is unique among FIFA Presidents in that he is the only one to have played an active role during an international match on the pitch itself. He was a well-respected referee and rose to the heights of Football League status, refereeing the 1934 FA Cup Final between Manchester City and Portsmouth.
He was appointed as a FIFA referee and took charge of a total of 36 international matches. He was knighted in 1949 following his input into the 1948 London Olympic Games. In 1938 he was credited for rewriting the Laws of the Game, making them more simplified and easier to understand.
Hertfordshire is very proud to have had a man like Sir Stanley come through its own ranks and rise to the pinnacle of football administration.
After his death in 1986 Hertfordshire FA donated a Trophy in his memory, and a triangular inter County Competition was set up involving Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex. However, the changing face of football at senior level forced the demise of this Competition in 1994 and Hertfordshire as the last winners retained the trophy.
In 2002, a Hertfordshire FA Competitions Committee member suggested that the Trophy be recreated in the form of a special merit award, which would be presented annually to the club, organisation, Match Official, or individual, who had “brought the most prestige to Hertfordshire for achievements in the recently concluded season”, as voted on by the members of the Committee each year.
Previously this has included clubs enjoying particularly successful seasons such as Stevenage, Watford, Gossoms End, Berkhamsted, Kings Langley, Royston and Boreham Wood, along with prominent Match Officials like Phil Sharp after officiating at the 2002 World Cup and the 2004 Olympics.