Can you solve Australia's 40-year football cup mystery?

It was 40 years ago that Brisbane City FC climbed the pinnacle of the Australian game, winning the second incarnation of the National Cup Competition.

Page 3 of 3 | Single page

But in the Final of the Cup, there could be no separating the two sides of Italian extraction after 120 minutes of football.

It finished 1-1 after extra time, penalties being the ultimate adjudicator to punctuate the first chapter in second edition of Australia’s national cup competition saga.

City won the contest 5-3 in the shootout - sparking scenes of delirium amongst the 9,000-strong Perry Park crowd immortalised forever in fading newspaper cuttings - the print editions the only memorial of Brisbane City’s ascension to the summit of the game in Australia.

Brisbane City FC today - whole of club photo

With the Cup, proudly grasped in the hands of the recently departed captain Ian Rathmell in those ageing photos, surely it now sits on display in the Club’s Newmarket-based clubhouse?

Unfortunately not. The glittering prize - possibly the first national honour won by any Queensland-based sports team - is missing.

The Phillips Cup, so proudly earned at the dawn of the NSL era, has disappeared. As indeed has its successor which City retained in 1978 by defeating Adelaide City.

This was arguably an even greater achievement after the Azzurri finished bottom of the league table that season and defeated 6th placed Lions and 2nd placed Eastern Suburbs on the way to the Final.

Where these two Cups are now is a source of much consternation for the current side - who hope to mark the 40th anniversary of their greatest triumph by seeing the Cup return home to Spencer Park.

If there is a favourable response, the club hopes to have the trophy back in time for this year’s Legends Lunch in May - where the 40th anniversary of winning the trophy will be celebrated as part of a special, Grand Final luncheon.

The club are hoping that if anyone does know the whereabouts of either of the Cups, they will be safely returned to Brisbane City or picked up - anonymously if need be - no questions asked.

Anyone with any information should contact the club - and with any luck, City will finally be able to honour those players appropriately, forty years on.