"WEST AUCKLAND?" said the lady from the Castle Players, "Didn't they win the World Cup?"
People know that West won the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, which is regarded as the first World Cup, in 1909 and 1911, but that really is a piece of fantasy, something for the film-makers.
If the amateur actress had said to me: “West Auckland? Didn't they once play in a final at Wembley in front of a 45,000 crowd?" she would have been bang on the money, because West’s triumph in front of their largest ever crowd at the home of football exactly 60 years ago this weekend is very much the real thing.