The certificate was awarded to Newtown White Stars Football Team as winners of the Welsh Cup in 1879. The White Stars have the unusual reputation of being the second team to win the competition (Wrexham were the inaugural winners in the previous year) but the first to be awarded the trophy, as none was available in the previous year. The White Stars were a team of working men who could not afford a team strip. Instead, they sewed white stars on their work shirts to distinguish themselves from the opposition.