World Cup '74 Portrait #93 (Lothar Kurbjuweit: East Germany)

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm

This most recent drawing in the project has as its subject an image of Lothar Kurbjuweit, who was represented as a member of the East Germany squad(s) pictured in both the FKS & Panini ‘World Cup ‘74’ sticker albums, & chosen for his state’s official one for the Finals, where, after missing the first 2 fixtures, he played in the subsequent 4, the East Germans’ historic 1 – 0 ‘political derby’ victory over neighbours West Germany in the final First Round group game, & each of the Second Round matches.

Ghosts abound in this case, not just the bleached representation of the subject, from, as most immediate visual reference, the enlarged photocopy of the original sticker: Kurbjuweit’s (a fine one indeed) is not a name I can recall from the time, although it would have soon afterwards come to notice via the player’s presence in the Carl Zeiss Jena team that enjoyed a certain later-Seventies – early-Eighties European club competition profile, & of course the separate states of East & West Germany subsequently came to be consigned to the past, living on not least through the recorded evidence of their sports teams, as preserved.

Badge of the Day #97 (Carl Zeiss Jena)

Picking up the threads of a recently dominant but now becalmed feature here at TOoT, we present the latest addition to our collection in the form of an historic crest representing Carl Zeiss Jena of, at the time of the badge’s obvious vintage, the then-East Germany (the previously-named ‘Motor Jena’ having being ‘re-founded’ under the company-sponsored identity in 1966, although they had also borne the ‘Carl Zeiss’ prefix twice before during their history): as ever, such an object is hauntologically rich, & can’t help but inspire a little ‘Ostalgie’ in those so inclined.

One recalls Carl Zeiss Jena being a name that came to attention early in one’s football-following days, via their domestic successes & profile frequent entrants in the European club competitions & subsequently appearing in the final of the Cup-Winners’ Cup in 1981, losing 2- 1 to Dinamo Tblisi (another of the continent’s instantly-attractive names), eliminating Wales’s Newport County at the quarter-final stage (much to the satisfaction of this Wrexham supporter, under the circumstances not in the least seduced by the possibility of the minnows progressing, particularly beyond the stage Wrexham had once achieved themselves), with research revealing that they had previously overcome AS Roma, remarkably overturning a 0 – 3 first leg deficit to prevail 4 – 0 in the return (one of very few instances of such comebacks in the history of the European club competitions), & then the holders Valencia, before going on to beat Benfica in the semi-finals, something of an epic campaign & a tribute to the team’s qualities in achieving their place in the final: the badge will serve as suitable tribute, & to the enduring romance of the name.