As might have become apparent from the recently-completed ‘World Cup ’74
Portraits’ drawing project (see the March 2014 – March 2015 archives), we’re
pretty keen on old (& not so old) Panini (& similar) sticker albums
here at TOoT, enjoying what we already own, considering their contents as raw
material for future art projects, & by no means from an obsessive
collector’s point of view but nonetheless keeping an eye out for what might be
the occasional suitable addition to a small but perfectly-formed collection,
aesthetically, historically & nostalgically.
Thus did a recent potter around ebay bring to attention a few choice
items, not least this Euro-gem from the Eighties (the Seventies are best, of
course, but this such vintage isn’t to be sniffed at by any means) &,
delightfully Belgium, one of our favourite footballing places for its teams’
& players’ names, which seductively proved impossible to resist, especially
with an injunction to ‘Buy it Now’, & was accordingly invested-in without
further ado.
Here it is then, Panini’s Belgian publication ‘Football 88’, as it
arrived, the unfilled album together with the complete set of stickers, nine
packets of which were sellotaped to a square of cardboard, in grid form (which
arrangement never fails to tickle our fancy, of course), just waiting to be
joined together in their proper, intended fashion: oh, the prospect of those
joyful hours of precise sticking-as-artistic-endeavour, the consumer as maker
of the finished aesthetic object, rather than mere passive recipient.
Opening the first package of stickers revealed a consecutive run of
numbers (this particular one being, apparently, the second batch of the album’s
contents ordered in such form), that we enthusiastically set about assigning
& applying to their appropriate places in the book, as might be appreciated
by this evidence of the completed Beveren pages. Note, for itself & future
reference, the bilingual Walloon & Flemish legends that relate to each
player’s sticker, another delightful feature of the album’s heady contents. How
nice also to become reacquainted with one David Fairclough, of Seventies’
Liverpool ‘Supersub’ fame (even as he sank our beloved St Etienne in that
legendary European Cup quarter-final), popping up in something of an unlikely
place.
However, it occurred that a yet more enjoyable creative experience
might be had by encountering the stickers in random fashion, in the manner of
one acquiring the individual packets of 5 or 6 stickers, as sold & bought
with one’s necessarily limited pocket money funds, &, indeed, as the
subjects for the World Cup ’74 drawing project had been selected.
To this end, all the stickers were unpacked & decanted into a
suitable receptacle, most appropriately in this case an old ‘Belgian selection’
biscuit tin (it was just here, waiting for such an occasion), now ready to be
picked as they come, almost, as it must be admitted that the two-sticker
composite First Division team group pictures were removed in order that they be
applied in & as their pairs, that the two halves could be placed together
& compared in order to establish their proper/best fit within the allocated
space(s).
This having been achieved, we have proceeded accordingly…
...at least until such point as the first pair of half-sized stickers
representing the Second Division clubs & players was encountered, & the
paralysing discovery made that they were, in a significant way, too large to fit the
available space, that they would, rather than fit snugly between the upper
Walloon & lower Flemish text, instead have to obscure one or other of the
languages! There ensued, of course, an identity crisis brought on by this
discovery – in Belgian mode, are we one or the other, which side of the
linguistic & cultural divide to we favour? After much conscience-wrestling
& consideration (& laughter from the observing A), aesthetics came to
our aid & the decision was taken, in terms of appearances, that the Flemish
legend, occurring below the stuck image, should take precedence but, so as not
to consign the Walloon to history, the stickers should not be unpeeled but,
rather, retain their backing in order that they can be glued to the page(s) in
a manner that allows the sticker to be curled forward from the top so that the
Walloon text can be seen behind: it’s not ideal, of course, but it is a
solution, of sorts.
On the subject of these Second Division stickers, admire the style as
sported here by the legendary Hungarian Laszlo Fazekas, featured now as manager
of Eendracht Aalst but previously a recurring star in such Panini albums as the
Euro Footballs of ’77 & ’79 & the World Cup ’78 edition, & also
FKS’s Argentina ’78 publication.
Anyhoo, we hope soon to have completed this marvellous addition to the
football sticker album collection.
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