World Cup fever – Stroud style
by Adam Horovitz
A LITTLE bit of World Cup fever came to an obscure corner of Stroud last Friday, June 14, for the launch of the latest exhibit in the Stroud Valleys Visual Arts Festival.
Neville Gabie, who has travelled the world taking photographs of goalposts and their surrounding locations, has posted one of his images on the billboard at the corner of Brick Row and Lansdown in Stroud.
The exhibit, organised by Re.projects and Lizzie Walton, was launched with an exuberant knockout Table Football competition between members of Artspace, the Stroud Football Poets, Catalyst Collective and a reporter from The Stroud News and Journal.
“I came back from my exhibition in Korea and Japan two days ago,” said Neville, who was knocked out in the early stages of the table-top tournament. “It’s good to be able to put up an image like this in advertising space without any logo or even my name on it. It speaks for itself.”
“I’ve been taking a lot of photos since then. I hope to do another book in the next 18 months,” he added.
The Table Football tournament took a bizarrely apposite turn when the police turned up, having been alerted by some upstanding member of the community to the possibility of a gathering of rowdy youths.
They left when assured that it was a private view for an art exhibition and that the only disturbances were likely to be Brazilian-style shouts of “Gooooooal” from the Stroud News and Journal team – who were on a winning roll – plus cheers from a relatively sober group of artists, poets and small children.
– © Stroud News and Journal, June 2002.
links: “Goalposts” by Neville Gabie · Photo Exhibition : Dreams and Goals
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Latest Comments
13th September 2024 at 6:14 pm
Welcome to Football Poets Beth
Great evocative poem Beth….
More please !
Haiku always welcome.
Hope we (FGR) get to play you again soon
Best
Crispin
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26th July 2024 at 6:25 pm
Great poem Mike Bartram. Eddie was a legend, affectionately known in Liverpool as, “the first hooligan.” Even the hoolies were well dressed in those days. The amazing thing was he was only 26 when that picture was taken. He’d played for Everton youth team and was well known to the players. He never got arrested. They threw him out and he climbed back in, just in time for Derek Temples winner.
I used the picture of him being tackled to the ground on the front cover of my book, “Once Upon a rhyme in Football.” It’s worth looking on youtube and finding the re-enactment of the Wembley scene. Frank Skinner and Baddiel went around to Eddies home in the 1990’s and acted it out on the green outside. It’s hilarious, especially all the effort they put in to get Eddie sober enough to shoot the scene.
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10th July 2024 at 6:07 pm
Hi Crispin,
I don’t know if you’ve see the picture in social media today…
a picture of a teenage Lionel Messi cradling a baby in Africa as part of a photoshoot…. the family had won a lottery to have their baby pictured with him….
the photographer has just revealed that the baby is actually in fact Lamine Yamal!!!!
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26th May 2024 at 2:30 pm
Hi Denys…
Re Man City:
OK it was 20 years ago but Criag Wilson did write this and a few others on them back in 04/05.
BTW I’m more Forest Green Rover since 2014 (and Chelsea) these days . I drum and am a standing season ticket holder .
Best
Crispin
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29th April 2024 at 2:47 pm
Hi Denys,
Yes Richard Williams you’re a brilliant wordsmith, my friend. When I first saw your football poetry I thought it was the superb Guardian sports and music writer. I once had the honour of sitting next to Richard Williams while at the Independent on the sports desk. He writes about music and sport with immense knowledge and authority. I’ve read a couple of Richard’s books recently. Great writer rather like you Richard Williams the Pompey fan. Congratulations on promotion.
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28th April 2024 at 5:59 pm
Thanks Denys. Yes your replay poem was superb.
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26th April 2024 at 4:46 pm
Nice work, Joe. You were quick off the mark with that! Good one from Richard Williams too I see.
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25th April 2024 at 7:33 pm
Hi Denys,
Thanks mate. I’ll do it now.
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25th April 2024 at 1:56 pm
Thanks Joe,
you might like to write a poem yourself on the same subject…
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23rd April 2024 at 4:03 pm
Hi Denys
With you all the way on the abolition of FA Cup replays. What are they doing to the game?
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