Friday, March 14, 2014

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.


 



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