A brand new exhibition celebrating Welsh football heritage opens in Wrexham this week!
Football Forever! Introducing the Story of Football in Wales and Wales in Football is the latest exhibition, inspired by the Welsh Football Collection, to open at Wrexham County Borough Museum & Archives.
The exhibition highlights the eventful history of Welsh football through its links to the First World War, the Aberfan Colliery Disaster, the challenges of foreign travel, the 1924 Paris Olympics, the rise of feminism, disability and sport, the importance of a single street in Swansea and the sport’s origins in the town of Wrexham and the village of Ruabon.
A unique collection on display
The exhibition includes objects and archival material from the Welsh Football Collection, selected with the guidance of two guest curators, both dedicated fans of the game.
The collection appears in a series of themed displays: Home Internationals, Stars and Characters, Europe and the World, Club and Domestic and All Forms of the Game including:
- Trevor Ford’s No.9 shirt worn against Scotland, 1955.
- Len Davies’ shirt from Wales’s first overseas tour, 1929.
- Aaron Ramsey’s shirt from the game against Estonia, 2009.
- Match programme from the ‘battle of Wrexham’ against Austria, 1955.
- Captain’s arm-band from Ryan Giggs’ last international appearance.
- A ‘golden’ boot awarded to John Charles.
- And a medal awarded to Moses Russell for being part of the winning team that beat England, Scotland and Ireland in the 1923-24 Home International Championship.
Come and get football mad!
Alongside the displays visitors will have the chance to:
- Enjoy archive footage of historic matches courtesy of British Pathé Ltd.
- Choose their top team to represent our country.
- Rank Welsh goalkeepers in order of greatness.
- Debate the rankings of Wales’s Greatest Ever Strikers.
- Try on some 19th century-style football kit.
- And make up their own football chants.
“A taster of what is to come”
Cllr. Hugh Jones, Deputy Leader of Wrexham County Borough Council said: “Wrexham is rightly the spiritual home of Welsh football and Wrexham Museum has cared for the Welsh Football Collection since it was established in 2000 with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
“The recent announcement of the Welsh Government’s intention to establish a Welsh Football Museum here at Wrexham Museum is a significant one for the area, the town and the museum. This exhibition perhaps provides a taster of what is to come.”
Football Forever! opens on Friday, July 12th 2019 and remains on show until Saturday, January 11th 2020.
For more information:
Telephone 01978 297 460 or email museum@wrexham.gov.uk
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