FOOTBALL'S coming home - not the beautiful game itself but THE missing football used by Bury's record-breaking FA Cup winners of 1903.

The ball, used in a 6-0 demolition of Derby County and missing for 27 years, turned up this week at the Match of the Day soccer exhibition in Birmingham.

Unknown to Bury FC officials, it was being used as part of the Football Association's global bid to bring the 2006 World Cup to England.

The ball was presented to the Shakers in 1954 by Edith Baxter, the daughter of John Johnston who played in that glorious 1903 final in front of 63,000 at Crystal Palace.

It was lost in 1971 after it was loaned for an exhibition in London. The organisers, Football Hall of Fame Ltd., went bust and exhibits were snatched by the Receiver.

The Bury Times launched a huge campaign to find the prized ball and the Shakers have been on the lookout for it ever since.

A few days ago it was spotted at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre by St John Healey, from the Gigg Lane commercial department. It had been gathering dust in a store room at Lancaster Gate, the FA's London headquarters.

Yesterday a delighted Bury chairman Terry Robinson said: "I've given the FA permission to continue using it to try to get the World Cup staged in England.

"But we want it back after that. I don't think there will be any problem. Successive boards of directors at the club have all tried to solve the mystery of this missing ball."

There was a false alarm in 1976 when a ball, believed to be of the 1903 vintage, turned out to be from the 1901 final between Sheffield United and Spurs.

Twice FA Cup winners, Bury cruised through the 1903 competition without conceding a goal. Their six-goal triumph - with strikes from Ross, Sagar, Leeming (2), Wood and Plant - remains the biggest-ever winning margin. Gate receipts from a 63,102 crowd amounted to £2,470.

Our picture shows the Bury team which destroyed Derby County in the 1903 FA Cup final. Back, from left: A Montgomery, H Monteith. Middle, from left: G Lamberton, J Johnston, J Lindsay, J McEwan, F Thorpe, G Ross. Front, from left: W Richards, W Wood, C Sagar, J Leeming, J Plant (they are pictured with the Manchester Cup, FA Cup and Lancashire Cup).

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.