World Cup '74 Portrait #13 (Carlos Alberto: Brazil)

 

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm

Today’s random choice of portrait subject is the legendary Carlos Alberto, who was chosen to appear in both the FKS & Panini ‘World Cup ‘74’ sticker albums  - being the captain of Brazil’s 1970 World Cup-winning team & scorer of the iconic, hammer-blow closing goal in their 4 – 1 demolition of Italy in the Final itself - yet, ultimately & unfortunately, was unavailable for selection for the official Brazilian squad for the tournament due to injury, thus having a more suitably ‘ghostly’ relationship to the 1974 World Cup as befits the ‘hauntological’ nature of the proceedings of this drawing project.



World Cup '74 Portrait #12 (Kembo Uba Kembo: Zaire)

 

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm

The latest portrait subject in the project, randomly-selected as usual, is Kembo Uba Kemo, as he appeared in the FKS ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ collectors’ stamp album (or Kembo, as it appears it should have been from the more official records), from which original image-object was made the enlarged photocopy which serves as the drawing’s immediate point of visual reference, undergoing the usual manual process of ‘re-mediation’ & ‘de-photography’ in being made.

Also selected for the Zaire squad for the tournament itself, Kembo Uba Kembo appeared as a substitute just after the hour mark in both their first & third games (lost 0 – 2 to Scotland & 0 – 3 to Brazil respectively) & played the entire match between, the resounding 0 – 9 defeat to Yugoslavia, which at the time equalled the record for the World Cup finals’ heaviest loss & remains the joint-worst margin of defeat to date.

Kembo Uba Kembo is another of those to have played at the 1974 World Cup now no longer with us, having died in 2007: in common with the great majority of those to have appeared at the tournament, his was a name of which I had no recollection, it not having registered at the time, as indeed, didn’t the fact that Zaire played in green shirts, what with my televised experience of the World Cup being via a black & white set – the true wonder of their green & yellow kit was not revealed until a little later, courtesy of the Subbuteo team colours range, when I became acquainted with & then acquired number 176 in the mid-Seventies' catalogue, & they became my team (ever the underdog-supporter) in matches against fellow Subbuteo-playing schoolmates. In recognition of the nostalgic nature of the project, & this particular aspect of it, the player’s shirt is here rendered in green rather than the yellow that appears on the source stamp (which itself bears all the hallmarks of being hand-coloured).



Badge of the Day #94 (US Hostert)

 

 

This very latest addition to the collection represents US Hostert, a recent name to have emerged on the Euro-radar, currently resident in the second tier of Luxembourg’s domestic soccer pyramid, to whence they returned after a single-season sojourn in the top flight in 2011-12, having finished firmly in last place with an admirably ‘heroic’ low total of 8 points, accrued from two wins & two draws, from 26 matches, accompanied by a goal-difference of -60 (to which 1 – 9, 1 – 6 & 0 -6 home defeats made a not inconsiderable contribution).

The second & third levels have very been much been Hostert’s natural habitat, since promotion to the latter from the fourth tier in 2001-02, before which they had spent their time oscillating between third & fourth.

The badge itself is a contemporary object, thus lacking any of the usual desirable vintage aspect, yet it provides the perfect vehicle for the club’s crest, which is of fine if idiosyncratic design: the green & white colour combination is obviously an attraction, as is the figure of the footballer, drawn by a sequence of elegant curves that yet somehow coalesce into the suggestion of a certain unathletically chubbily stiff clumsiness (contrast this with the angular dynamism of the graphic player representing Timok Zaječar on that club’s badge) - as might befit a lower division player, perhaps - & his head described by the ‘O’ of ‘Hostert’, all rather irresistible & something to be sported with a particular pride.



World Cup '74 Portrait #11 (Luigi Riva: Italy)

 

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

Bringing the drawing project up to date, with the randomly-chosen portrait subject being in this case Luigi Riva, who was selected for representation in both the FKS & Panini ‘World Cup ‘74’ albums & the official 22-man Italy squad for the tournament itself (having been a goalscoring mainstay of the team since the late Sixties), where he appeared in the Italians’ opening two fixtures, the 3 – 1 win over Haiti & the 1 – 1 draw with Argentina, before being absent for the decisive 1 – 2 defeat to Poland, which eliminated Italy at the conclusion of the First Round group stage.

Technically, the normal rules apply – the drawing having been processed from the immediate reference source of an enlarged monochrome photocopy of the original picture stamp from the FKS ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ collectors’ album, with recourse also being made to the stamp itself.



Badge of the Day #93 (Vörös Lobogó)

 

Following the celebration yesterday of the centenary of MTK(-VM) Budapest, today’s very latest addition to the collection commemorates the name of Vörös Lobogó, the ‘Red Flag’ under which MTK flew from 1953 – 56, during which time, as domestic league champions, they became the first Hungarian club to compete in the new European Cup, in the 1955 – 56 season, thrashing Anderlecht by an aggregate of 10 – 4 before going out at the quarter-final stage, in another goalfest, losing 6 – 8 overall to subsequently beaten finalists Stade de Reims.

Thus this object is of a particularly desirable vintage, for all that it lacks the traditional ‘MTK’ name, fixed as it is in the specific historical time of not only the exciting birth of pan-European football club competition but also immediately pre-Revolution communist Hungary (MTK had fallen under the post-war control of the state security police, & ‘Vörös Lobogó’ was one of a swift succession of name changes officially-imposed upon the club: for all that it seemed a more exotic & ‘Hungarian’ name, &, from recollection, an attraction from the earliest days of one’s Euro-fixation, its less edifying associations can be appreciated), rich, then, in its ‘hauntological’ aspect.



Badge of the Day #92 (MTK-VM Budapest)

 

Today celebrating the 1988 centenary (already over a quarter of another century ago) of the mighty & magnificent MTK-VM Budapest, as they were at the time known (between 1975-92), MTK having absorbed Vörös Meteor into the fold, whose red star insignia was thus incorporated into the white-sashed club crest, as here represented in the form of an exquisite & most desirable object.

Our MTK pin badge of an earlier vintage can be found here.



World Cup Portrait #10 (Aad Mansveld: Holland)

 

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

Today’s randomly-generated portrait subject is Aad Mansveld, another of the contemporarily lavishly-sideburned gentlemen of the Seventies, who was chosen to represent Holland/the Netherlands in both the FKS & Panini ‘World Cup ‘74’ collectors’ albums but not, alas, selected for the official Dutch squad for the finals themselves, due, it appears, to an injury suffered in the March prior to the tournament. Adding to such a ‘ghostly’ connection to the 1974 World Cup, Mansveld died young, aged 47, in 1991.



World Cup '74 Portrait #9 (Bwanga Tshimen: Zaire)

 

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

The latest portrait subject, chosen as usual at random, is Bwanga Tshimen (or vice versa, as the Panini album from which the sticker image that provided the original source material, subsequently photocopied to serve as the immediate visual reference for the drawing, has it: he also featured in the FKS album) of the Zaire squad, who was selected to appear in all 3 of his team’s matches at the 1974 World Cup finals, each of which was lost, to the tune of an aggregate of 0 – 14.

Although very few of the protagonists of the 1974 World Cup can be personally recollected by name (only a modest amount would have registered at the time, let alone be remembered 40 years on), & none of the Zaire team are amongst  that number, one does recall the legendarily infamous free-kick incident, when one member of their defensive wall (Mwepu Ilunga, as it happened) broke rank to kick away a ball that had been placed in preparation for their opponents (Brazil) to address, seemingly as a flagrant instance of indiscipline (to be used as an example to critically question the development & worth of African football at the time: Zaire were then only the second nation from the continent to have qualified for Africa’s recently-allocated designated place amongst the 16 available in the World Cup’s modern era, & were hardly seen as making a favourable representation, considering not least their preceding 0 -9 defeat to Yugoslavia) but, it transpires, actually a deliberate act of protest that unfortunately had not the desired effect (Ilunga had intended to get himself sent off to make his point, only to be merely cautioned), an intriguing detail to emerge from the tournament’s history.



World Cup '74 Portrait #8 (Kent Karlsson: Sweden)

 

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

Courtesy of the random portrait subject generator, today we feature Kent Karlsson, whose image appeared in both the FKS & Panini ‘World Cup 1974’ stamp/sticker collectors’ albums, &, subsequently having been selected for the Sweden squad, who played throughout all 6 of his country’s matches in the Swedes’ progress to the Second Round group stage of the finals.

As with the great majority of the tournament’s participants, this then football-following novice (the televised coverage of the ’74 World Cup was essentially my first experience of the sport as a spectator) has no recollection of Kent Karlsson’s name, but, via such repositories of memorabilia as the sticker albums, he now assumes equal importance to any of the portrait subjects, alongside those remembered, & who enjoyed higher profiles at the time & have since.



World Cup '74 Portrait #7 (Mirosław Bulzacki: Poland)

 

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

The latest portrait subject in the project is Mirosław Bulzacki, who was selected to appear in both the FKS & Panini World Cup 1974 albums, & subsequently the official Poland squad for the finals, but, it transpired, not to play a single minute of the Poles’ 7 matches in the tournament as they went on to achieve third place (although he had featured in 3 or the 4 qualifying games that saw Poland eliminate both England & Wales), thus ‘haunting’ proceedings in somewhat ghostly fashion rather than actively participating in them.

 

World Cup '74 Portrait #6 (Johnny Warren: Australia)

 

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

Today’s randomly-chosen portrait subject is Johnny Warren, who was selected for the Australian 1974 World Cup squad, having been previewed to be in the FKS collectors’ stamp album commemorating the upcoming tournament (from which original source stamp was mechanically produced the harshly contrasted photocopy which serves as the ‘re-mediated’ drawing’s immediate reference, clearly informing an aspect of its appearance).

Warren subsequently played in his country’s momentous opening match at the first World Cup for which they’d qualified, a 0 – 2 defeat to East Germany (for whom it was also an inaugural appearance), after which he was discarded from the team.

In common with the great majority of the protagonists, I have no personal recollection of the player, but it appears he was a significant figure in & to Australian soccer, a stalwart player & great promoter & advocate of, who is another now longer with us.



Badge of the Day #91 (Dunaújvárosi Kohász)

 

A recent addition to the collection, representing Dunaújvárosi Kohász SE, the name from 1961 – 90 of a club that, in common with many Hungarian ones, went through numerous changes of nomenclature (& prior to 1961, the new, postwar Socialist industrial city of Dunaújváros had itself originally been known as Sztálinváros, as was the football club during this time) until financially-collapsed dissolution in 2009 (less than 10 years previously, in the season that bestrode the change of millennia, they had, as Dunaferr, been crowned league champions, before going bust & being reborn for the first time as early as 2004, making for two swift & terrible declines, the second alas terminal).

Thus this object of a certain vintage could be said to have something of a hauntological aspect to it, as manifestation of a ghost, a surviving relic of both one of the identities of the defunct club &, more generally, the period of Communist Hungary, being a product of such.

In terms of design, the badge is an interesting & different shape, a tiny shield in nature, with the crest proudly flying the flag for the bold ‘dk’ SE, now a memorial to the departed.



World Cup '74 Portrait #5 (Heinz Flohe: West Germany)

 

 

 graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

 

Today’s subject, randomly chosen from the now 252-strong pool of available player talent, is Heinz Flohe, a player who was selected for inclusion in both the FKS & Panini albums (the original image on which this drawing is based having been chosen from the former) & the official West German squad for the 1974 World Cup, subsequently making three appearance in the tournament itself, for the whole of his country’s 0 – 1 First Round loss to neighbours East Germany, & then as a late substitute in both of the following matches, the Second Round group victories over Yugoslavia, & Sweden. All of the portraits might be regarded as having a certain inherent poignancy, depicting as they do young men as they were 40 (& more, given the obvious vintage even then of some of the original source images) years ago, but some perhaps more so, in that they are, in effect, ghosts of ghosts as in this instance, with Flohe having died in 2013.

 

As is the format for the project, the original sticker image-object was photocopied first in colour, this then copied again, enlarged, in black & white to provide the immediate reference point from which the drawing was processed. Through the copying processes, image quality degrades, to a point far removed from the original photographic print or transparency of the portrait subject that provided the image from which the sticker itself was designed & printed, subjecting the image to numerous layers of removal before being finally ‘re-mediated’ as drawing, a process of, we have named & do so again, ‘de-photography’.



Badge of the Day #90 (Győri ETO)

 

Being the first of a recent small crop of Hungarian club additions to the collection, on this occasion representing reigning league champions Győri ETO, the current name & emblem of the club who have already featured in two of their earlier incarnations, as both Vasas & Raba ETO Győr.

Being a contemporary object, no sense of the hauntological attaches itself to such a badge, rather it is something to be appreciated purely on the merits or not of the design of the crest for which it serves as the vehicle, the green, white & gold colour combination of which is not without attractive qualities.



Badge of the Day #89 (Tavriya Simferopol)

 

 

 

Today featuring Tavriya Simferopol, another of those fabulously romantic football club names that probably emerged into consciousness when the Ukraine/Crimea did from behind the old Iron Curtain (the club was, indeed, the first league champions of the independent Ukraine), rendered in those ever-desirable Cyrillic characters, which communicate that suitably exotically Eastern quality, upon an object the tarnished, base metal  appearance of which suggests might well be of a Soviet-era vintage, thus brimming with hauntological promise & redolent of those Cold War days.

It’s a shame to see ‘the Tav’ currently effectively propping up the Ukrainian Premier League, a situation not helped by Sunday’s 1 – 2 home loss to Dynamo Kiev, but surely that wonderful name will prevail & the team will soon be on the rise, to safety, before the season’s end.
Interestingly, & topically, given the current political crisis in the Ukraine & Crimea in particular, an article today details Tavriya Simferopol's & another Crimean club's plans to relocate to the Russian league system for next season.
 





Badge of the Day #88 (Levski-Spartak)

 



 

This most recent addition to the still-growing collection, having arrived from Hungary, features Levski-Spartak, as they were between 1969-85, the result of a merger of Levski & Spartak Sofias, the only name from Bulgarian football that’s ever really exerted anything of a romantic attraction.

A striking presence in the European club competitions throughout the 1970s & early 80s (not least as 6 times each winners of both the Bulgarian League & Cup), & Panini’s sticker albums, one recalls the name of Levski-Spartak being summarily & tragically extinguished by the Bulgarian authorities, with the club subsequently re-presented as ‘Vitosha’, following their part in the disturbances that marred the Cup Final, versus fierce rivals CSKA, in 1985, before reverting to their original ‘Levski’ in 1989.

Levski-Spartak, however, remains THE name to be treasured, as now will be the badge representing it, a bona fide hauntological object of a particular vintage with distinct ‘Ostalgic’ properties. The halved design of the crest of course references the ‘Levski’ & ‘Spartak’ aspects of the equation, with appropriately identifying Cyrillic initial characters, in perfect modern-minimalist fashion: a classic, to be sported with pride & a certain knowing cool.

Here’s an image of the delightful envelope the badge arrived in, too, in all its Hungarian-stamped glory.

Badge of the Day #87 (Rapid Vienna)

 

Featuring today the latest addition to the collection in the form of Rapid Wien, Austria’s finest name, as represented by this suitably fine object, resplendent as it is in green, white & gold (an attraction to Rapid’s green & white colour combination was/is, of course almost inevitable).

Again, one recalls the name of Rapid Vienna occurring during the earlier days of following the European club competitions, & quite possibly in the Subbuteo team colours chart listings, & the team contesting the 1984-85 Cup-Winners’ Cup final with Everton, losing 1 – 3, including such footballing luminaries as Hans Krankl (who scored) & the already-legendary Antonin Panenka: earlier in the tournament, Rapid had rather controversially eliminated Glasgow Celtic following the unusual circumstance of a replayed match, so were well represented in the British media that season, which was rather good. In 1996, Rapid Vienna again reached the Cup-Winners’ Cup final, alas to lose once more, this time to Paris St Germain, a disappointing return for one of the grand names of European football.

 



World Cup '74 Portrait #4 (Dragan Holcer: Yugoslavia)

 

Today’s random choice of subject for the drawing project is Dragan Holcer, who didn’t actually make the cut for the official Yugoslavia 1974 World Cup squad, but nonetheless was selected to make an appearance in the FKS ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ stamp album, representing the country for whom he (had) played on 52 occasions up to 1974, which, hauntologically, has proved sufficient honour to ensure the name survives, however tenuous, ghostly (coincidentally appropriately, given the bleached nature of the image quality of the enlarged photocopy from which the drawing was processed as immediate reference), the connection to the tournament.



World Cup Portrait '74 Portrait #3 (Peter Wilson: Australia)

 

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

The third subject to be picked at random to be drawn, re-mediated, for the purposes of the project, in its early days, is Peter Wilson, English-born but who was chosen to represent Australia in both the FKS & Panini ‘World Cup 74’ sticker albums, & to captain his country’s squad at the tournament itself, where he played in all 3 of Australia’s first round group matches, the defeats to East & West Germanys, & the concluding draw with Chile, whereupon they exited proceedings.
Wilson, it appears, was something of a stalwart & has continued to be an interesting character beyond his playing career, however unexpected a path he might have followed, into reclusion.



World Cup '74 Portrait #2 (Jean-Claude Désir: Haiti)

 

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

 

The second subject of the project is Jean-Claude Désir of Haiti, who was chosen for selection in both the FKS & Panini ‘World Cup 1974’ sticker albums that are serving as our original source material, & also as a member of his country’s official squad for the tournament, where he subsequently played in all 3 of Haiti’s first round group matches/defeats before their elimination at that stage.

Another of the predominantly unknown to me participants in the 1974 World Cup, during its time or since until investing in one or other of the albums, little detail seems to be available on the facts of the player’s career, but here’s a rather interesting newspaper photograph of the NASL’s Detroit Cougars squad for 1968, featuring a certain ‘John Desir’ second from the left of the front row, to shed at least a little light: another of the subsequent Haiti squad, Claude Barthélemy, is also pictured as a member of the Cougars’. By the time of the ’74 World Cup, Desir had returned to play his club football in Haiti, for Aigle Noir AC.

 



World Cup '74 Portrait #1 (Leonardo Veliz: Chile)

 

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

With this year’s football World Cup now less than 100 days away from its kick-off, this seems as good a time as any to reactivate the 1974 tournament drawing project that has lain dormant, shamefully, for almost 12 months now, in what is hoped will be a new, improved format, designed to process work much more quickly & efficiently. To this end, the previous labour-intensive ‘pixellated’ method has been abandoned in favour of a broader, more active additive & subtractive mark-making process that harks back to earlier drawings, not least the shortish series of circa-1970 footballer portraits of around two years ago (please refer to the March, April, May & June archives of 2012).

The source material for the drawings remains the pair of FKS ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ & Panini ‘World Cup ‘74’ stamp/sticker albums issued to commemorate the then-upcoming tournament to be held in the then West Germany, with enlarged monochrome photocopies, somewhat degraded in image quality, of the original colour image-objects serving as the immediate point of reference for the drawing process, with the albums or colour copies of their pages close at hand for additional consultation.

Whereas the previous incarnation of the project began with the intention of following a strict alphabetical presentation of the nations & their chosen players as represented by/in the albums, this version will follow a random pattern, rather as the stickers might themselves have been collected, in packs, with the individual player to be drawn chosen in the time-honoured draw-making fashion of a copy of the sticker upon which he appears, as might a number, being picked unseen from a collection of the complete set of images, which will of course diminish accordingly.

This being the case, the first name out of the biscuit tin happened to be one Leonardo Veliz of Chile, who, having been chosen to be represented in both the FKS & Panini albums, did make his country’s official squad for the tournament & went on to appear in all three of Chile’s First Round group stage matches (after which they were eliminated); as a 76th minute substitute in the opening 0 – 1 defeat to the host nation, for the whole of the subsequent 1 – 1 draw with East Germany & then from the start of the final fixture, a goalless stalemate against Australia, during which he was withdrawn in the 72^nd minute.

None of these particular details registered at the time – the televised coverage of the 1974 World Cup finals was essentially my introduction to football, so whatever memories remain from the time are generally of a broader nature, limited to a relative few of the matches & featured players - but such events & participants remain or become palpably present in the consciousness via the medium of such archive objects as the stickers & albums, portals to the past as it were, inspiring nostalgia that can in turn generate new work, a re-mediation of an existing source. Given that my televised experience at the time was of a black & white nature (as it remained beyond the 1978 World Cup, in fact), it seems most appropriate that the portraits be rendered similarly monochrome, although it feels as though some colour should be applied to the subjects’ shirts, the colours as worn being one of the significant attractions to the game, of course.

Coincidentally, just as the final preparations for undertaking this project were in hand, the Guardian online recently published a selectively illustrated article on the subject of Sean Ryan‘s series of ‘Badly Drawn Footballers’, a project involving the representation of a complete album of sticker portraits: good stuff.



Badge of the Day #86 (Hansa Rostock)

 

Featuring the very latest addition to the European football clubs collection, with an object representing the fabulous Hansa Rostock, who would have emerged out of the former East Germany as a name to admire & subsequently follow, certainly from earlier days & quite possibly from the time of the 1974 World Cup finals, as a result of the club being home to one of the DDR’s evocatively memorable names in the form of Joachim Streich, scorer of two goals during the tournament, & who I would later, in September 1979, have witnessed playing, & scoring, for 1FC Magdeburg, to whom he’d been transferred in 1975 (Streich scored the ‘Burg’s equalizing goal – at 1 - 1 – their 2 – 3 defeat at Wrexham in the First Round, first leg tie of the 1979-80 European Cup-Winners’ Cup. He subsequently put the final nail in the coffin of Wrexham’s elimination by scoring very late in Magdeburg’s 5 – 2 extra-time victory in the return match).

The badge, a contemporary object thus lacking any particular hauntological quality other than memories of the name, features Hansa (as they were renamed, from the regally-sounding ‘Empor’, in 1965) Rostock’s crest with its jaunty ship that refers to the city’s maritime history as a Hanseatic seaport which continues to the present day.

The name also reminds one of Berlin’s famous Hansa Tonstudio, where various post-punk bands, not least Wire, & Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, have recorded, thus allowing a pleasant link between football & music, two of those totems of TOoT’s cultural landscape.

Badge of the Day #85 (Szolnoki MÁV)

 

 

 

Picking up again with what has become by far (indeed, almost exclusively) our most regular feature, with the addition to the collection of a suitably aged object representing Szolnoki MÁV, another of those Hungarian names that just, for whatever reason, seems irresistible, & has been followed since being encountered.

Interestingly, it’s a name that would not have come to notice via the European club competitions, as the great majority of our favourites have but, rather, from research into Hungarian domestic football, that second, more profound level of obsessive nerdiness from which so much delight can be gleaned at the discovery of so many more wonderfully exotic club names.

Such research, in revealing Szolnoki MÁV’s name, would have further unearthed that the club appear to have spent the greater part of their century-plus-long existence operating at a level below the highest echelons of the league, certainly since the 1940s, apart from the 2010/11 season sojourn in the NB1, to which they had earned promotion only to finish in last place, hardly gloriously perhaps, but thrilling nonetheless to be able to appreciate the team & their fine name as a presence in the top division, however fleetingly.

The badge itself is another of those precious vintage objects, hauntologically redolent of a bygone era, of Soviet Hungary behind the Iron Curtain, &, in design terms, the winged crest (since replaced by the club) provides a pleasing element of difference to the collection.