National Museums Liverpool Blog - football

The Singh Twins next to Ranbindra's painting 'Oh Come All Ye Re-eds'

Is football a new religion? Can being a female artist be an advantage in some cultures? These are just some of the subjects covered in a brief interview I did with acclaimed local artists The Singh Twins. I chatted with Rabindra and Amrit at the private view of the Walker Art Gallery's latest exhibition The Rise of Women Artists, where Ranbindra's painting 'Oh Come All Ye Re-eds' is on display. One of the main things I was interested to find out was whether they ever actually define themselves as 'women artists' or if they didn't think about gender at all.

Amrit said; 'I think personally as artists we’ve never thought of ourselves as women, we’ve never defined ourselves as ‘British female artists’. I think that the gender issue is not really important, as ultimately I think the art should speak for itself and the quality of the work. Therefore it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman.

But I think that it is important in the context of if you consider throughout history where there has been prejudice towards female artists then obviously that is something that needs to be re-addressed. I think there should be more incentives to support female artists especially since many of them are juggling a million things; family life and other commitments around the work they are trying to do. And it’s not always easy to take up a career in art alongside that and to commit to all your other daily activities. Essentially though, no I don’t think that gender matters. The work should speak for itself.

Rabindra said; 'From a personal perspective though, in terms of support for women, in the context of our own background and coming from an Indian family, actually we’ve had a lot more support being women than we would have done being men. Because traditionally it’s the men who are meant to be the breadwinners and go out and get a so-called ‘decent job’. There was less pressure on the women! So I think from our own cultural context I think it’s been an advantage that we’re women and we’ve had 100% support from our family in pursuing a career as artists.

You can listen to or download the full interview with The Singh Twins here and see photos from the private view on our The Rise of Women Artists Flickr set.

As a fervent Blue Nose (that's an Everton supporter in case you're football illiterate) I'm very excited that Thursday sees the launch of The Everton Collection website; the most complete treasury of football memorabilia in the world.  And if you're a supporter of another club or social history buff you should be excited as well as the collection isn't just about Everton Football Club. This is the history of football told through the story of Everton.

The collection is made up of over 18,000 items of football memorabilia, dating back to the founding of the club in 1878, itself a founder member of The Football League. Programmes, medals, tickets, transcribed ledgers, trophies, boots, shirts, contracts, cash books and photographs all feature and are now available to browse online. It features the earliest programmes of many clubs including Manchester United (then Newton Heath), Celtic, Aston Villa, Derby County, Bolton and Blackburn, and many of football's rarest artefacts.

I've had a sneak preview and think the transcribed ledgers are my favourites. The minutiae of life in the days before TV deals and big money transfers is fascinating. Players late for training because they missed their bus is a far cry from today's industry.

The collection will be launched with the major new exhibition at Liverpool's Central Library, ‘Everlution: The Everton Collection’. There's also a series of talks by Peter Lupson on topics such as joint Everton and Liverpool programmes, the birth of the football league and the man who many claim was responsible for that famous split that created Everton and Liverpool football clubs.

I should point out that my interest isn't totally partisan. The new Museum of Liverpool will be featuring many objects from the collection in the Creative City gallery, using the pieces to tell the story of Liverpool and its people.

Many people will remember Stephen Shakeshaft's fantastic football photographs from the Soccer Shots exhibition a few years ago. The good news is that there are some more on show in Liverpool People by Stephen Shakeshaft, which opens a week today. Here's a picture of the crowds that didn't quite make it into the exhibition.

Being paid to go to football matches may sound like a dream job, but as Stephen recalls below, life on the touchline was far from easy:

Copyright Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

"Football crowds fascinate me, every emotion is on view - jubilation, frustration, anger, despair and a lot worse. Why don't photographers show excitement on a goal being scored? Because they are watching the aftermath from players and fans, the goal passes them by. Even now I watch football totally emotionless, after 40 years of sitting on the touchline it has taken its toll.

From the aching knees after lying prostrate in front of the Kop to the scars of European cup ties I have suffered for my sport. A bottle bounced off my temple in Rome, a police dog took part of my ankle in Rotterdam and a Bruges defender landed so heavily on my back I couldn't exhale for two days. I lost so many jackets after smouldering cigarettes landed on my back - 'Hey mister, you are on fire!' My shoes were taken off my feet at Wolverhampton Wanderers by a cheeky fan who was obviously annoyed that my body was blocking his view - I had to bribe him to give them back.

The problem was we had to lay flat on the grass on a groundsheet between the fans and the touchline, parallel with the goal post. This was not a position conducive with fast reactions - in other words we had to dodge the missiles from the crowd and the studs of the advancing winger heading for the penalty area. If a foul was committed on a home player in front of us the missiles showered down aimed at the offending player - coins (half crowns the favourite as they travelled the furthest, being the heaviest) hit me on the ear leaving me seeing stars for a few minutes, pop bottles, darts, meat pies. One night I counted five pellets that had been fired from an air pistol which I gave to the police. It wasn't all bad though, often after a stormy, eventful match there would be enough money scattered around the groundsheet to buy a round of drinks.

We would always follow the home team attack and at Anfield walking around the ground to the Kop for the second half on a wet cold day it was like walking into a giant hairdryer - the heat hitting us from the crowd. It was a great view and a dramatic angle to take photographs from, camera at pitch level. A wet day was miserable, the ground sheet resembling a pond. The secret was to dress accordingly - starting off with long johns underwear, two pairs of socks, thick jeans, two sweaters, scarf and cap and then a waterproof leather divers suit which had no ventilation. I just prayed I didn't need the loo at half time and at the end of a game, after a good soaking from the rain, I literally squeaked when walking.

Leaving the ground in the middle of the crowd my feet didn't touch the ground until I reached the main road, my elbows stood out like handles and I was lifted by the pressure of the throng as I hung on to my cameras.

Songs developed on the Kop from nowhere, it was if 20,000 people had been in a rehearsal room before the game, as one they developed the funniest anthems and hilarious chants against the opposition - but when they sang 'You'll Never Walk Alone' the hairs on the neck always stood up.

I couldn’t do it now but I'm glad I did it then."

Celebrations after Liverpool won the European Cup Final in Rome, 1977. Copyright Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

A little while ago I mentioned that preparations were already under way for the next exhibition at the National Conservation Centre. Opening from 18 September 2009 to 24 January 2010; 'Liverpool people by Stephen Shakeshaft', will include photographs spanning the career of the picture editor at the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo.

It has been a tough process whittling down the huge selection of images available to a suitable number for the exhibition. Unfortunately there just isn't space to fit everything in. So over the next few weeks I'm going to be featuring some of the photos that didn't make it into the exhibition itself here on the blog. This one in particular made me smile. Here's the story behind it in Stephen's own words:

"The Eternal City was ready for the arrival ofthe Liverpool fans. I had arrived a week before to send build up features to the Echo. It was Liverpool's biggest match - ever!

The first train to arrive in Rome's main station could be heard a mile away, the L-I-V-E-R-P-O-O-L chant was getting louder by the minute.

Hundreds of fans stepped into the sacred city in red t-shirts and scarves - no suitcases, no toothbrush, no change of clothes - and marched towards the city. I watched a group swaying down a road tunnel still singing - when in Rome do as scousers do. The city was a festival of red, who were the other team? There seemed to be few German supporters around.

Liverpool won, even Tommy Smith scored, and at the end I made towards him to take a celebration picture. The other photographers waited for him to turn around as he jumped into the trainer's arms. I went the other wat and my picture was just what I wanted. I later asked Tommy why he had run straight to the trainer at the end of the match. 'He had my teeth in his pocket and I wanted them back before having my picture taken', he replied."