Who is Jules Rimet and why is he mentioned in England song Three Lions?

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England are into the quarter-finals of Euro 2020 and football fever is once again sweeping the nation.

By now you will have undoubtedly heard Frank Skinner and David Baddiel’s classic England anthem ‘Three Lions’, as fans across the country dream of football coming home.

But in between the lines of ‘Three Lions on a shirt’ and ‘Thirty years of hurt’ in the song’s chorus, there is a reference that continues to puzzle some supporters.

‘Jules Rimet still gleaming’ refers to the original World Cup trophy, which was the one lifted by Bobby Moore when England defeated West Germany to win the tournament on home soil in 1966.

It was named after the man who was the third president of Fifa, football’s governing body. Rimet is the longest serving president in the organisations history having held the position from 1921 until 1954. Rimet, a Frenchman died in 1956 at the age of 83.

During his life he was one of those at Fifa behind the first ever World Cup, which was held in Uruguay in 1930. The trophy awarded to the winners of the tournament was then renamed in Rimet’s honour.

It was last awarded at the 1970 World Cup before being replaced by the current trophy. The Jules Rimet trophy went missing in 1984, however, and was never recovered. It was allegedly stolen from a display case in the headquarters of the Brazilian football association in Rio.

The trophy was also stolen before the 1966 World Cup in England, prompting a nationwide police investigation, before it was famously discovered by Pickles the dog.