Oxbridge World Cup 1990
The second Oxbridge World Cup was held in 1990 over a few weeks in the summer term, with most match being played at Ropner Park and the field at Grosvenor Road. Pupils were organised into teams of six, mixed age groups, and boys and girls took part. Each team then had the name of a country assigned to them, and like the World Cup countries played in groups, with top two teams progressing to the knockout rounds. The 32 teams played the group, and knockout stages, over a number of weeks at Ropner Park and Grosvenor Road playing fields.
My 1985/6 class made up a replica World Cup in paper mache, and we had medals made for teams reaching the last four. In 1986 there is no record of which team won our first World Cup. Scotland won the 1990 World Cup Final beating Italy on penalties, in front of the whole school at Ropner Park. Everyone gathered to support the last four teams, with a great fun atmosphere, where we even had a Mexican Wave going on round the crowd.
Tyne Tees Television covered the match for Northern Life, and here is a digital copy of the original recording. Paul Frost and Pam Royle are anchors on the news programme, while reporter Ruth Pinder was at the final with a camera crew. Interviews with Tom Pike, Neil Brett and John Featherstone feature in the piece, and Roger Tames commentates on the match.
The final score after full time was 1-1, with Scotland winning the cup on penalties. It was a memorable fun day that everyone can enjoy all over again!