In honor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament, currently being held in South Africa, Continental Soccer World, a U.K.-based website for soccer fans offered up the following World Cup canine connection...
"The whole of England was getting ready for the 1966 FIFA World Cup on home soil. Then all of the sudden the FIFA World Cup trophy, the Couple Jules Rimet, disappeared. At a stamp exhibition in London. A case for Scotland Yard.
The theft led the English Football Association (FA) to becoming the laughing stock of the whole world for a few weeks. There was a ransom demand of 15,000 pounds. But was it attempted extortion? Not at all!
Fearing they would have to make a replacement trophy, the English then had all the luck of efficient organisers. A week after the robbery, on Sunday, 27 March 1966 to be exact, the barge worker Dave Corbett went out for a walk with his dog "Pickles" in south London. Suddenly the dog disappeared. Shortly after the master and his dog had left the house, Pickles began sniffing around amongst the bushes in the vicinity. Corbett firstly found his dog again and then came across a piece of metal wrapped up in newspaper. It was the Golden Goddess, the Coupe Jules Rimet, the stolen FIFA World Cup trophy. Little Pickles duly became, to all intents and purposes, a national hero. As a reward Pickles and his owner were invited to the celebration dinner after England's win and it is said that the dog licked the plates clean.
(RSQ soccer fans can go to www.contisoccerworld.com for the latest World Cup results.)
Pawnote: Pickles has been described as a "black and white mongrel dog" of high intelligence. To find your own "black and white mongrel dog" please go to www.petfinder.com
