Wolves’ old training ground now has a permanent place in football history – and a specially-commissioned plaque will confirm it.
Castlecroft Stadium, on the outskirts of Wolverhampton just inside the South Staffordshire border, was in October last year the setting for a British record penalty shootout.
When Old Wulfs met Lane Head in the J W Hunt Cup competition it took 44 kicjks to decide the first-round tie which had ended 3-3.
That was only four short of the world record for a penalty shootout set in the Namibia Cup in 2005 when KK Palace beat Civics 17-16. However, it is believed the Hunt Cup score of 19-18 to Old Wulfs is a world record for the most successful kicks in a shootout.
To mark the feat the JW Hunt Cup committee are to have a plaque erected on the wall of the ground which is the home of AFC Wulfrunians, Old Wulfs’ neighbouring club, and is now known as the CKW Stadium.
As well as the plaque, there will be a framed testimonial to be hung inside the ground. On it will be pictures of the teams who made history as well as the three men who officiated on the night – referee Jamie Howe and his assistants Richard Booth and Stuart Flannery.
“We had to mark this amazing match,” said JW Hunt Cup president Alex Hamil. “It’s a football record.
“It was quite a night and it just went on and on. You had to admire both teams,” added Hamil, a former Football League referee.
Established in 1926, the JW Hunt Cup, is run by volunteers and donates all proceeds to the Beacon Centre for the Blind and Partially-sighted.
The final is usually played at Molineux.
Article by Vice-President Steve Gordos for "The Black Country Bugle".