Badge of the Day #84 (Marine)

This fine object, of a contemporary nature, represents, with a nautically-themed design (although not the official club crest), another of TOoT's favourite 'non-League' teams, the mighty Marine, the most romantic & loveliest name on Merseyside, even if other clubs from that region may have enjoyed more in the way of trophy glory & higher profiles nationally, continentally &, indeed, globally.

Coincidentally, whilst enjoying a brisk woodland walk this morning, & listening to Everything But The Girl's fine first two albums, 'Eden' & 'Love Not Money', along the way, one was reminded of Tracey Thorn's musical beginnings, with the Marine Girls.

Shirt of the Day #7 (Sporting Lisbon)

Featuring the last, for now, of the classic & favourite football shirts as they've been acquired for the (small) collection, on this occasion another TOFFS retro production, representing the rather fetching green & white hooped design of the wonderful Sporting Clube de Portugal, of Lisbon.

Shirt of the Day #6 (Internazionale)

Again back to the 1960s design vintage courtesy of TOFFS, & the blue & black stripes sported by our beloved Internazionale as they bestrode Europe as double winners of the European Cup in 1964 & 65: a classic, stylish colour combination indeed.

Shirt of the Day #5 (FC Barcelona)

Another of those wonderful 1960s-vintage designs courtesy of TOFFS, featuring the rather groovy blue & red striped combo favoured by Barcelona.

Shirt(s) of the Day #3 & 4 (Atlético Madrid)

Today presenting two versions of the famous red & white striped shirt of Atlético Madrid, the first a 1960s-vintage number acquired from TOFFS, & the second from more recent times, celebrating the club's 2011 centenary, with a little added blue piping to the stripes.

Shirt of the Day #2 (East Germany)

Of course, given the Ostalgie oft experienced here at TOoT, the acquisition, courtesy of the fine, retro-minded folk at TOFFS, of a 1970-vintage East Germany football shirt was more than something of an inevitability, & here it is represented in all its glory, with a fine DDR crest.

Shirt of the Day #1(Ferencváros)

Today finds us still featuring a ‘badge of the day’ of sorts, but in this case not a pin badge from the collection but an embroidered crest attached to a garment, in the form of a Ferencváros replica shirt, the particular design of which appears to be the 2007/08 season vintage (when the club were in the midst of a three-season sojourn in the Hungarian second division, initially imposed for financial irregularities), a prized acquisition indeed: the attachment to Ferencváros has been documented at earlier dates, & being able now to sport their green & white colours will add a whole new aesthetic dimension to our support.

Badge of the Day #83 (Ararat Yerevan #2)

This very latest addition to the collection features for the second time Ararat Yerevan, of whom we’ve already acquired & blogged a rather lovely Russian-Armenian bilingual badge, on this occasion more specifically celebrating their one-&-only Soviet league championship, achieved in 1973: as such, it’s a vintage artefact of some significance, declaring the feat & Ararat’s status as ‘champion’ of the Union in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet (it’s interesting to translate into the club’s native Armenian too, something quite different again: չեմպիոն), locating it tangibly in time & place, hauntologically inspiring that certain nostalgia for the old USSR/SSSR/’CCCP’ of one’s youth.

Aesthetically, there’s a restrained elegance to the design, with a simple, repeated decorative motif added to the basic functionality of the facts, as they were: it’s a nice, & of course essential, object.

Badge of the Day #82 (Dynamo Berlin)

Today we feature an object representing the somewhat notorious Dynamo Berlin, who won ten consecutive domestic league championships between 1979 – 88, any number of which were tainted with more than a whiff of officially-sanctioned corruption both on the pitch & behind the scenes, consequently earning them much opprobrium within East Germany, but who were always an attractive name in a continental context, one it was hoped would feature at the business end of the club tournaments (mostly the European Cup, of course), although after an unfortunate defeat on penalties against Dynamo Moscow in the semi-final of the Cup-Winners’ Cup in 1971 – 72, the club’s debut season in Europe, they subsequently achieved no better than a couple of quarter-finals.

In terms of the badge, it’s obviously one of those vintage objects of desire, properly hauntological & rich with the potential for inspiring a little Ostalgie.
As for the design, when the DDR state decreed in 1954 that Dynamo Dresden’s players be relocated to Berlin in order to assist the capital in being home to a competitive & successful football team, it seems very much like Berlin appropriated Dresden’s ‘D’ for Dynamo logo too, given what appears to be the identicality of this aspect of both club’s crests, if a comparison be made: whatever it’s something of a classic.

Badge of the Day #81 (Dinamo Zagreb)

 



Following the flurry of mostly Serbian clubs, of the more obscure variety, featured recently, Trešnjevka Zagreb excepted, today we present the crest of the dominant Croatian one in the form of Dinamo Zagreb (who could be regarded as a team for whom we have an affection on a continental scale but are behind Hajduk Split domestically & also Red Star Belgrade when considered in terms of the former Yugoslavia, which is, of course, often here at TOoT), which, by a curious oversight, we’ve neglected to post until now, despite it featuring in the collection for a while – the badge was, in fact, among the earlier acquisitions & appeared within the arrangement of such displayed upon the canvas as originally photographed & blogged here.

The object is a contemporary one, incorporating as it does the Croatian red & white chequered flag with the design, along with the obvious ‘d’ for Dinamo, thus it has no hauntological quality, but nevertheless the crest is an effective piece of design.

Badge of the Day #80 (Metalurg Smederevo)

 

 

Presenting the final example from the recent consignment acquired from Serbia & featuring an object representing Metalurg Smederevo, thus named from 1967 – 76 (now having evolved over the years into the more prosaic ‘FK Smederevo’, relegated last season from the Serbian SuperLiga & currently mid-tablish, a point & place above Sinđelić Belgrade) & therefore of the former Yugoslavia, imbuing the badge as 'ghostly' historical artefact with hauntological & ‘Ostalgic’/’Yugo-nostalgic’ qualities.

Again, the attraction lies in the name – Smederevo is a good, exotic one, & the ‘Metalurg’ has that delightful, irresistible East European ‘industrial’ aspect to it – made the more so by virtue of being rendered in its native Cyrillic upon the chunky (difficult-to-photograph) chrome objecthood of the badge.



Badge of the Day #79 (Trešnjevka Zagreb)

 

 

Another example from the recent consignment sourced from Serbia, featuring Trešnjevka Zagreb, who represented Yugoslavia on one occasion in the old Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, in 1963-64, briefly, going down 1 – 4 on aggregate to Portugal’s Belenenses, which, indulging in some archive research, is where I would have discovered, some time down the years, what is the rather lovely & romantic name.

 

With the club, from this high point in their history, having slipped down the now independent Croatian league structure, it was a pleasure indeed to become reacquainted with the name via the chancing-upon the badge, across which desirable object it is to be found proudly emblazoned, in gold that echoes the surrounding leaf motif, over the green ground of the club’s colours, along with a Yugoslav-era red star (the current club crest features in its stead, in the upper left triangle, the Croatian red & white chequerboard), thus situating the badge within a particular historical period, of which it exists as hauntological artefact, with the potential for inducing a little ‘Ostalgie’, in the familiar manner.

 

Back to the name, & with no disrespect to Dinamo, of whom we might be little fond, but how much more ‘aesthetic’ it would be were Trešnjevka the top team in Zagreb, & qualifying to make regular forays into the continental club competitions. A perfect world it is not, alas, but still we can acquire & sport our favours to promote the great names & their colours.



Badge of the Day #78 (Dubočica Leskovac)

Another of the consignment recently acquired from Serbia, on this occasion representing the newly-discovered & rather lovely name of Dubočica Leskovac.

The crest, as embodied by the badge, is, of course, a classic of the good old Eastern European modernist ‘industrial’ type, featuring as it does the sturdily elegant graphic representation of a cog-like factory building with a smoking chimney stack (‘established in 1923’), exactly the sort of iconography that Peter Savile might have appropriated or been influenced by back in the earlier days of his designs for the mighty Factory Records. The Yugoslavian red star atop the bronzey-lettered Cyrillic rendering of the club name (& that of Leskovac too, below), & the striking design of the red/white diagonal division additionally contribute to what is a most desirable & already-treasured object indeed, to be sported with considerable style & pride.

Alas, Dubočica currently languish at the foot of the eastern division of the third-level ‘Srpska Liga’, but this is surely only a temporary blip & such a fine name will rise to its rightful place amongst the higher echelons, although, of course, on-field success is merely an impostor that has no significant effect on affection.
That being said, though - how about Dubočica Leskovac v, say, Kischpelt Welwerwolz as a glorious-sounding not-so-distant future Champions’ League Final? Here at TOoT, it will happen.

Badge of the Day #77 (Jovo Kursula Cvetke)

 

 

Today’s example is another from Serbia, representing the name of Jovo Kursula of Cvetke, a club who might ply their trade some in the relative obscurity of the country’s minor leagues yet are celebrated in the form of this finely-designed crest/badge, the name rendered in Cyrillic across a gorgeously opulent red, white & blue colour scheme, with a relief football embedded within to further assert its objecthood.

The year of formation, 1970, perhaps also hints somewhat at the object’s vintage – at least that’s what we’re liking to think here.



Badge of the Day #76 (Sinđelić Belgrade)

 

 

Continuing with the presentation of examples from the recently-acquired consignment from Serbia, this fine object-in-shield-form features the colours & name of Sinđelić Belgrade, represented in its always-attractive native Cyrillic.

Again, there’s a suitably vintage appearance to the object, the creaming of the white enamel being perhaps the most obvious aspect, that affords a sense of its being ‘Yugoslavian’ in period, thus a hauntological relic of the Communist era.



Badge of the Day #75 (Kristal Zaječar)

 



 

This recent Serbian addition to the collection features Kristal Zaječar, a name to have appeared on the radar even more recently than Timok, & a club about whom & whose history it’s proved impossible thus far to unearth any information (although a Kristal glassworks appears to have existed in the city, founded in 1965 & productive until 1990ish, thus they might well be the factory football team, a hunch supported by the inclusion of a goblet-type icon within the design of the crest), but another, however obscure, to find itself at least represented in the form of a rather fine badge, again featuring the ever-desirable Cyrillic rendering of the club’s name as well as a western alphabetical version, & a ‘Yugoslavian’ red star in addition to, in this instance, the detail of a little relief football upon its surface, asserting its objecthood: clearly, it’s another of those vintage objects to be sported with some style & regarded with nostalgic, Ostalgic affection.



Badge of the Day #74 (Timok Zaječar)

 

 

Today’s  example features, in essence, Timok Zaječar, a name that’s only recently come to attention, via a little light ebay-browsing (although this badge, another of those from the Serbian consignment, was acquired from another collectors’ site, Delcampe), but which nevertheless finds itself represented in this instance in the form of an object of considerable aesthetic delight – its unusual trapezoid shape, the sky blue ground, the Cyrillic rendering of the name ‘FK Timok’, the lovely, vintagey font of the ‘1919’ & the sharply stylized graphic silhouette of the rather balletically-dynamic footballer figure, all contribute to something quite exquisite in terms of design & objecthood, an already-treasured addition to the collection.



Badge of the Day #73 (Vojvodina Novi Sad)

Today’s example represents the fine & exotic name of Vojvodina Novi Sad (in the glory of its native Serbian Cyrillic) in the form of what appears to be a desirable object of Yugoslav-era vintage, during which time the name would have come to attention & lingered romantically since as amongst those to be regarded with affection from that (former) part of Europe – not necessarily in quite the same league as perennial favourites Red Star Belgrade & Hajduk Split, perhaps, but still ‘The Vodge’ (& being aware that it really is pronounced ‘Voy-’) are one of those teams we hope to see at the business end of their league/cup, hopefully successfully enough to qualify to make a foray into the continental competitions, resplendent in the red & white halved shirts that only add to their allure.

On the subject of which, if history were able to be rewritten, Vojvodina might well have contested the 1967 European Cup Final, in an attractively-named & -kitted match-up with Internazionale, had they not lost, alas, to a very late Glasgow Celtic goal at the quarter final stage, although, then again, in an ideal world, it’s perhaps doubtful they would have overcome Atlético Madrid after a replay in the previous round: whatever, Vojvodina’s is a name that surely should have graced a European club final or two.

This Vojvodina badge is in fact but one of a batch of eight newly-acquired from Kruševac in Serbia, arriving as they did in some style, as might be appreciated from this photograph of the beautiful envelope containing the objects: look at those wonderful stamps, for instance.

Badge of the Day #72 (Lokomotive Leipzig)

 

Apparently, this constitutes the blog’s 700^th post, a milestone that will be marked with the presentation of one of the latest, freshly-arrived additions to the European football club collection in the form of a vintage object representing the crest of Lokomotive Leipzig from, for the 'Ostalgically' inclined, the former East Germany, from where they emerged into my consciousness during the 1970s (courtesy, I fancy, of being featured as a team photo sticker in the legendary Panini ‘Euro Football’ album issued during the 1976-77 seaon).

 

As regular competitors in both the Cup-Winners’ & Fairs/UEFA Cups over a 25-year period - & frequently drawn against British opposition - until German reunification saw their domestic star dim, Loko Leipzig remained in both sight & mind (culminating in their appearance in the 1987 Cup-Winners’ Cup final, losing, acceptably at least, to the mighty Ajax), & the name, another of those eastern European ‘modernist-machine’ nomenclatures, has continued to resonate since as one of those fondly recalled.

Curiously, & disappointingly just ahead of the times, Lokomotive Leipzig were drawn against three English clubs in the 1973-74 UEFA Cup (the season immediately prior to my developing an interest in football), during their progress to the semi-finals of the competition, where they unfortunately succumbed to ‘Spuds’, having eliminated Wolverhampton Wanderers (on the away goals rule) & Ipswich Town (on penalties) en route.
By a quirk of fate, I randomly acquired a copy of the programme for the Molineux leg of the Wolves tie whilst collecting such publications in the late 70s, thus the badge is not the first item of Loko Leipzig memorabilia to have been owned.  Here’s some photographic evidence:

 

Badge of the Day #71 (Dynamo Dresden)

 



This latest addition to the collection represents the grand name of Dynamo Dresden, another of those to have resonated down the years.

Unless the name might have registered if & when mentioned as being the club of a couple of the East German 1974 World Cup squad, during the television coverage of the tournament, Dynamo would certainly have appeared on the radar in the course of the 1976 – 77 season, when they were drawn against Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, to be eliminated by the eventual winners, & were a familiar name on the European club competitions landscape during the 70s & 80s, resplendent in their yellow & black kit,  courtesy of the consistent domestic form they showed, although it appears that tangible success was frequently & systematically denied them through political machinations in the former DDR – indeed, Dynamo Dresden’s makes a most intriguing history, not least including giving birth, as the club was forced to do, to their subsequently dodgily-dominant rivals Dynamo Berlin.

Whatever, the badge itself is another of those irresistible objects of a certain vintage, Ostalgically redolent & aesthetically satisfying, with that crest of the D upon its ruby red ground.

Badge of the Day #70 (RWD Molenbeek #2)

Another of the recent acquisitions for the collection, in the form of a second badge representing the glorious & highly-favoured name of RWD Molenbeek, &, in this instance, what might reasonably be regarded as the classic red, black & white RWDM crest, from the original club’s heyday in the late 1970s – 80s, that was subsequently adopted by the reconstituted ‘2003’ club.

More on our devotion to RWD Molenbeek can be found here, supporting the posting of an image of the first badge, & further to the subject of memorabilia concerning the original club, below is (re)presented another recent discovery & acquisition, the official brochure previewing the 1980 – 81 season, which is, as might appreciated from the selection of photographs, pure archive gold, with bilingual features, player profiles & also including a host of ads for products, places & services, as any match programme from the era would, lavishly illustrated.
It’s tempting to add that every home should have one, but TOoT Towers, & the library thereof, is very proud to now house such a delightful publication.

Badge of the Day #69 (KRC Genk #2)

Today we present an image of another of the recently-acquired additions to the collection in the form of a second object to represent KRC Genk, in this case an earlier, 1990s' vintage, version of the club’s logo, with the ‘G’ composed of a number of small yellow stars on the blue ground appearing, at least at first glance, not entirely dissimilar to the European Union symbol. For more background on TOoT’s leanings towards Genk, & the badge of what is their current crest, please redirect here.

As an aside, investing-in & blogging the first badge had hardly enhanced the team’s fortunes on the pitch, with only one league victory for Genk since, until yesterday's 2 - 0 win at Mechelen arrested the alarming slump of a run of six successive defeats either side of the Jupiler League’s mid-winter break, with recent elimination from the Belgian Cup – as holders - also being factored-in as the other aspect of a double-whammy, but of course on-field successes & failures, & the vagaries of, are regarded philosophically, & affection endures (being the operative word, under such inauspicious & trying circumstances).

Badge of the Day #68 (Kischpelt Welwerwolz)

 

 

 

One of the latest, & particularly thrilling, acquisitions (having arrived from Zagreb) is this most desirable object  representing Kischpelt Welwerwolz, which is quite possibly one of the very finest names in European & indeed world football, only recently discovered but straight into the chart with a bullet, & a most welcome initial addition to the collection from Luxembourg (had the legendary Jeunesse Hautcharage still existed as such, they might well have been the first), in which football backwater itself the club languish in somewhat deeper obscurity (although, research reveals, not beyond the range of the wonderfully comprehensive RSSSF statistics archive), operating at the fifth, lowest, level of the Luxembourg domestic league structure, where they habitually finish at or near the bottom of their division, & making only fleeting appearances in any given season in the early rounds of the national cup competition from which they are usually swiftly eliminated, but of course such on-field trifles matter not, for the name in such instances is all. And crikey, what a splendid name it truly is.

From the all-important aesthetic perspective, the royal blue & white  ‘kw’ design of the lettering upon the football-based logo is rather striking & beautiful in a modern(ist) fashion, thus the badge is a fitting object with which to coolly dandify a lapel & promote the magnificent name of FC Kischpelt Welwerwolz. Come on The ‘Pelt!