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THE ORIGINAL FIRST TEAM
PLAYER OF THE YEAR TROPHY |
The handsome cup below was Nigel Kyte's favourite TFFC trophy. The Club's Chairman said: "My mother found this old cup in a WIZO Bring And Buy sale in the early eighties. She bought it for a couple of quid, knowing I was looking for new trophies for the Club awards. On the face was engraved 'Best Budgerigar Tail Trophy' and on the reverse were a couple of past winners! I carefully rubbed down the surface on both sides to get rid of the engraving, but it left a tarnish on the front which can be seen in the picture. So I tried my utmost to shape the mark so it didn't look too bad. Then we had the cup engraved with the TFFC lettering. I bought a plinth which was fully engraved with all previous winners. Later I added the silver-plated metal footballer figure, taken from another trophy, which screwed into the lid perfectly. The cup was a beautiful trophy and the Club's pride and joy – it was a great shame when it was taken under unfortunate circumstances in 2003."
The former Best Budgerigar Tail Trophy was lost when the holder of the cup at the time – Garry Simpson – left it in a black waste bin at the front of Nigel's home, forgetting to drop a note though the door to let Nigel know it was there. "Garry was returning the trophy and we were out. The cup wasn't taken away as rubbish because he told me later that day that he had dropped it around and it wasn't the day for collecting waste. So some sad individual must have gone through the bins that same day before Garry called later and found it lying there inside a plastic bag – pure bad luck and a great shame. To his credit, Garry agreed to sponsor a brand new trophy, costing over £100, without hesitation."
