Pickles, the dog that recovered the World Cup and became a hero

It is the most valuable trophy in football and one of the most valued in all sports. That is why every time you go somewhere to visit, all necessary precautions are taken to protect you. However, security measures can sometimes fail, as happened that March 20, 1966 with the world Cup in London.

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That Sunday, England was shocked by the news of the theft of the Jules Rimet trophythe award given to the World Cup champions between Uruguay 1930 and Mexico 1970.

With four months to go until the start of the competition, the great star had disappeared. With the passing of the days, desperation increased and hopes of recovering her fell. Above, the press began to reproduce what happened.

How was the theft of the Jules Rimet trophy in England 1966

The FIFA granted a request to display the cup in Westminster’s Methodist Central Hall, a London multi-purpose venue used primarily as a Methodist church and conference centre.

In return, the mother entity of football asked that the trophy be guarded 24 hours and insured for 30 thousand pounds. But something went wrong. There was an oversight among those in charge of security, which allowed a man to calmly enter and take the precious object.

According to the British newspaper Daily Mirror in 2018, the thief’s name was Sidney Cugullene and performed this act for fun: he took advantage of a lack of attention among the guards and he only needed to break a small lock to find his goal.

Since the fact was known, the authorities received several calls with information about the whereabouts of the trophy in which they asked for large sums of money for its rescue. However, they were red herrings.

Pickles, the dog who found the cup and became a hero

Nine eternal days passed before they finally managed to retrieve the cup. the hero was pickles, a dog who went out for a walk with his owner, David Corbett, and found that object of which all England spoke.

According to what Corbett himself revealed, both were heading towards a telephone booth to make a call, when the dog found a package and began to sniff it with great curiosity. “The trophy was wrapped in newspaper and tied tightly with rope, leaning against the wheel of my neighbor’s car.”, he told on some occasion during an interview with the FIFA site.

He added: “At the time the IRA (Irish Republican Army) was on the loose so I thought it was a bomb and put it down. I picked it up, put it back down. So, curiosity got the best of me. I broke the wrapper a bit from the bottom and there was a smooth veneer. I kept breaking around, and Brazil, Germany, Uruguay appeared. I ran home and told my wife: ‘I think I found the World Cup!’”.

When taking him to the police station, he ran into a situation that until now he had not imagined: was listed as the number 1 robbery suspectsomething that was corrected with the passing of days after the interrogations.

Pickles, the dog of the year and movie star

Once they managed to leave the accused place, David Corbett and his pet were recognized as heroes: They received an economic reward, conducted interviews with the different media and participated in many events -among them, the celebrations for the championship achieved by England in that World Cup-.

Pickles was highlighted as “dog of the year”, received a medal and free food for all that 1966. As a finishing touch, he participated as an extra in the movie “The Spy with the Cold Nose”, which was screened in theaters.

In 1967 Pickles died and was buried in the garden of Corbett’s home in South Norwood. His popularity was so great that to this day, when the time for a World Cup draws near, his name comes to light again.

From the Jules Rimet trophy to the current World Cup

From the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay to date, two versions of the trophy have been used.

The first version, originally named Victoriawas created by Abel Lafleur and was used from Uruguay 1930 to Mexico 1970. It officially changed its name in 1946: they put it Jules Rimet in honor of the then president of FIFA, one of those responsible for the creation of the competition.

In 1970, Brazil was in possession of the trophy for having won the championship for the third time and the new version of the World Cup was helddesigned by Silvio Gazzaniga which is used from Germany 1974 to the present.

The Jules Rimet trophy was stolen again in 1984 and has never been found

In December 1983 the Jule Rimet trophy was stolen againthis time from the offices of the Brazilian Football Confederation.

The authorities found the Argentine jeweler responsible for organizing the event John Hernandezwho always denied the fact.

The concrete thing is that the cup never appeared and they suspect that it was melted down. Brazil ordered a replica to be made, which is the one on display today.