Editing North East England (section)

====First "world cup" winners and influential amateurs====
Amateur and semi-professional football clubs like [[Bishop Auckland F.C.|Bishop Auckland]] and [[Blyth Spartans A.F.C.]] have had success and public attention through [[FA Cup|Football Association Cup]] runs, but the most famous achievement was by [[West Auckland Town FC]] in 1910: they were invited to take part in a competition in Italy to compete for what was then labelled the soccer World Cup. West Auckland won the competition against some of Europe's biggest sides; they defeated [[Juventus]] 2–0 in the final. They successfully defended the title the following year. The first World Cup trophy played for in these tournaments, [[Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy]], which was being held in West Auckland Working Men's Club, was stolen in 1994 and never recovered. An exact replica of the original trophy was commissioned and is now held by West Auckland FC. The story of West Auckland's success was made into a film called "A Captain's Tale", starring actor [[Dennis Waterman]] as club captain Jones.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}
 
Players from some of the region's minor league teams have gone on to influence football on the world stage. [[Jack Greenwell]] (John Richard Greenwell), an ex-coal miner who played non-league football for [[Crook Town A.F.C.]] from 1901 to 1912, went to Spain and played 88 games for Barcelona before becoming their manager in 1917. Greenwell's achievements at Barcelona include winning five Catalan championships and two [[Copa del Rey|Copas del Rey]]. He also managed Espanyol, Mallorca and Valencia. On the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he moved to South America to manage the Peruvian and Colombian national teams; he died in 1942 in [[Bogotá]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Duncan|last=Leatherdale|newspaper=Northern Echo|title=Barcelona Jack's granddaughter returns to her roots in Crook|url=http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/10719118.Barcelona_Jack_s_granddaughter_returns_to_her_roots_in_Crook/|date=5 October 2013|access-date=8 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114142502/http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/10719118.Barcelona_Jack_s_granddaughter_returns_to_her_roots_in_Crook/|archive-date=14 January 2015}}</ref>