Daventry's Charity Cup has been in mothballs for more than three years but could be resurrected as a pre-season tournament involving the four major football clubs in the Daventry area.
Woodford United, Long Buckby, Daventry Town and Daventry United will be invited to take part in a revamped competition in late July or early August.
The Charity Cup event dates back to 1923 but was never completed in 2005 after Woodford's Adam Kni
ght had held aloft the trophy a year earlier following the Reds' 1-0 victory over Cogenhoe.
Now Daventry Town's new director of football Tony Perry is getting together with ex-club chairman and local referee Garry Roche, veterancommittee man Frank Hobbs and Gusher football correspondent Mike Tebbitt in a bid to revive the competition.
In 2005 Woodford again reached the final but were left high and dry when Sileby Rangers held up the competition for several weeks without facing expulsion.
The Northampton UCL club cited wet weather and a league fixture backlog as reasons for delaying a tie with Long Buckby who then quite reasonably baulked at the idea of playing the match at very short notice.
Roche still has the players' medals that were never handed out three years ago while the £60,000 valued solid silver trophy (it looks like the FA Cup) gathers dust in a museum.
In 2008-2009 Perry and his fellow enthusiasts would like to relaunch the Charity Cup competition as a mini two-round event either staged over a single weekend or using a Saturday afternoon and a Tuesday night.
"Initially the new-look competition would be restricted to the four major local clubs although more teams could be added in later years," said Perry.
At one time, under the expert tutelage of Bill Elwell and Bill MacConnachie, the Charity Cup expanded to 24 clubs but fixtures were frequently postponed due to more pressing league and cup commitments.
A pre-season staging now looks the best bet starting in the 2009-2010 season.
The trophy was originally given for shooting and was first won by a Sgt. Goodman in 1921.
Most of the obsolete Northamp-tonshire charity cups are now housed in the military museum in Abbington Park, Northampton and the Army brass hats once tried unsuccessfully to take possession of the Daventry Charity Cup.
That move was rightly repulsed but a local football league is now thought to have designs upon the valuable trophy.
A revival of the original competition would surely be the best available solution.
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