He made history at Wembley, now Dave Whelan has done the same in Westbury.
Five hundred strong Westbury students got the shock of their lives yesterday when they became the first ever local schoolchildren to touch England’s FA Cup following an impromptu visit from the owner of football club Wigan Athletic.
It was a stopover like none other, with each wide-eyed child taking a break from class around 2 p.m. to get the one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see and feel the 149-year-old cup – world football’s oldest trophy.
But Whelan is probably used to these momentous moments by now, as his club captured the celebrated cup for the first time in the team’s 81-year history in March at Wembley which has led to Wigan making its UEFA Europe league debut this year.
“Our captain Emmerson Boyce comes from this island and ‘Boycey’ is a very, very great Wigan Athletic player and he asked me if I would bring the cup and take it around to a couple of schools, and I thought what a really, really good idea,” reasoned Whelan at the school grounds.
“It is something that these youngsters will never ever see again, and the island will probably never see again either. It’s such history behind this trophy.”
“We’re also hoping that this would lead to getting some people on the island to support Emmerson Boyce and Wigan Athletic because I would love to take up some of these youngsters to play for Wigan Athletic. It would be a dream come true for ‘Boycey’ and for me,” he added.
From around 1:55 p.m. all 500 students were gathered in front of a display featuring all of the school’s trophies in the sport with no clue of the significant occasion ahead of them.
However, the brief wait proved more than worth it when Whelan exited a vehicle with the FA Cup in hand surrounded by a camera crew from Sky Sports as well as head coach of local side Bajan Elite, Jerry Skeete.
And the kids gratefully showed Whelan their appreciation after applauding the Wigan owner following his speech before pleasantly greeting him while walking by to touch the cup.
“We wanted to come here with Dave Whelan because we knew this was history, and we just thought that the reaction of the people here would be special but I have to say I didn’t expect this,” said Sky Sports’ Jim White.
“My goodness, this is special. This is amazing. I don’t think for a moment these kids ever expected in their young lives to see the FA Cup and touch it.”
The celebrations didn’t end there though, as Whelan also announced his club’s subsequent partnership with Westbury – a perennial title contender and former BICO tournament title-winning school.
“They are now part and parcel of Wigan Athletic and I’m hoping Boycey will bring one or two of the youngsters to Wigan and watch football as it’s played in England at the highest level,” explained Whelan.
The 76-year-old former Blackburn Rovers player, who played in the 1960 squad that lost the FA Cup final to Wolverhampton, will also take the trophy to two other undisclosed schools during his ten-day stay in Barbados.