A Brief History of the Trophy
In 2005, Team Celt Captain Glyn Taylor incepted the Shankers Cup and presented this trophy as a prize for a competition between English and Celt amateur golfers. The Shankers Cup was commissioned for £50 however it is now valued at a cool £5 million. The trophy stands 32cm high, measures 10cm from handle to handle, weighs 0.85kg and is plated with a gold substrate that has a tendency to dissolve when exposed to fizzy alcohol such as cheap cava or Tesco lager.
The trophy is expected to be in use until 2015 at which point the small sticky brass shields representing each years champions will have totally engulfed the polished plywood base.
Although the golfing figure found on top of the Ryder Cup trophy is strangely absent from its Shankers sibling, this does not detract from the great symbolic importance of Shankers.
The Shankers trophy represents an annual golf event between two groups of fiercely competitive and patriotic gentlemen who put their personal lives on hold for three days to hit a small white ball around several acres of parkland. The result is a shattering of nerves, endless banter, psychological mayhem and ultimately the celebration of a great win... or commiseration of a sore loss.
The winning team are bestowed the ultimate privilege of raising this trophy and revelling in the hysteria that always follows the announcement that they are Shankers champions.