National Football Museum Manchester UK

Soccer err Football is all the rage these days and the US has a big outing in the "knockout" stage on Tuesday. Today team Phungo is getting into the spirit by publishing a few photos from a visit we made to the UK National Football Museum located in Manchester.

Click any Photo to enlarge

I don't really follow soccer, and I am not sure if the athletic shoe is the architectural design iinspiration, but to me this looks more like a basketball shoe than a soccer cleat. The museum reminded me of the Rock n Roll HoF in Cleveland with larger lower levels for fixed/permanent exhibits while the smaller upper levels are more apt for rotating exhibits.

The Museum is called the National Football Museum, but it has plenty of international flair. While the history of the game from the British perspective is at the center of the museum's vision, There are several exhibits and items that deal with the World Cup and other international competitions.

The museum is free to visit and has plenty of interactive and pop culture items, thus there is an appeal to novice fans as myself.  

 1959 Style Football Cards

One of the first notable items I saw were Soccer Cards in the style of 1959 Topps. From what I understand it was common practice for the Football cards of the Fall/Winter of a year to use the design of the previous summers Topps Series - I think these cards are from the 1959-1960 season.


Chix Bubble Gum Cards from 1951 and a program from the 2011 Women's World Cup.

Churchman Cigarettes Cards (1930) and  WD & HO Willis Cigarette Card Album (1935-36)

\Original FA Cup 

Actually the original cup was apparently stolen in the 19th century. This matching cup was created to replace the original. This 2nd Original cup was in use from 1896-1910. 

Stanley Matthews Exhibit

Stanley Matthews was one of a handful of players honored with their own exhibit box. In the 1959 cards near the top of this post his card is the leftmost of the center trio.

George Best European Footballer of the Year Trophy (1968) 

Willie Cunningham Knee Ligament

One of the more gruesome exhibits was this one of Willie Cunningham's Knee Ligament. The related text notes that the recover time for Cunning was six months. Today a player that goes through the same surgery would be back on the field in four weeks.

Wallace and Gromit 

 As I mentioned above there were a number of pop culture items in the museum. Team Phungo was delighted to see a Wallace and Gromit item that was from a production we were previously unaware. The Soccermatic is an invention from the Wallace & Gromit Cracking Contraptions Collection. I have been a fan of W&G for a long time. It is great for fans of stop motion animation and clever writing. 

Raquel Welch showing off her Soccer Skills in 1972



Sources
The FA
National Football Museum
Imdb

From Russia with Stickers

Here are the contents from a couple of packs of Panini Futbol Stickers I picked up while in Russia last fall.

I honestly don't know much about soccer but wanted to pick these up just to check them out.

For more information on these packs check out my posting over at A Pack to be Named Later.

SuperSomething of Russia (Shiny Foily sticker)

Mashir Chukarov
Sergei Skoblakov
Valery Klemov
Renat Yebaev

Names are translated to the best of my meager ability

Boris Rotenberg
Tomas Vehodl
Alexander Salugen
Chede Odea
Alexander Ryzantsev 


Over at APTBNL I also had a pack break for some stickers from Munich's FC Bayern Muchen team.

2008 06 29 Phillies @ Rangers

Phils lose sixth series in a row giving them a 5-13 record over the last 18 games. 5-13 is how the team has started the last couple of seasons. They have absorbed those bad stretches and had relatively decent years. Now we will have to find out how they recover from having a crummy stretch in the middle of the season.

There has been talk of skipping Brett Myers start this week. I don't think you can really skip his turn- Phils play 13 days in a row starting Tuesday (7/1) and running through the AS break. You could flip Hamels and Myers. This would mean that Hamels would get 3 starts between now and the break, and Myers would only get two. That is a change worth making. Also it would break up the starts by back to back lefthanders in the rotation, which is potentially beneficial.

Plus - Phils done with Interleague play.

Minus - Phils still struggle to score runs.

Shenanigans - How comes a pitcher gets credit for a complete game if he is on the losing side of a game and pitches 8 innings, but he cannot get a no-hitter if he doesn't give up any hits in that loss. Seems like a contradiction to me.

Meh - Am I having having hallucinations or was UEFA cup Soccer being covered by ABC??

Around the League - The Rosters for the Futures Game have been announced. Several Phillies made the Roster including Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson, Jason Donald, and Greg Golson. Carrasco will play for the World team, The rest of the players will be featured on the US team.

Off the Diamond - Locally was at the improved Victory Brew Pub this weekend. Much Bigger, Good Grub, Great Beer.

On Deck - Los Bravos in Atlanta again. Time to get back on the right track against some NL East Foes.