Here are some memorable star badges from the Billy Lane era. Many of your 1950s Albion heroes are here from Roy Jennings, Adrian Thorne, Eric Gill, Bill Curry to Mike Tiddy…
Sadly, some points of the Glen Wilson and Johnny Dixon stars have broken.
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Category Archives: Seagulls Shop
Delightful player badges and discs
Thanks to Nick Spiller for lending me these marvellous items.
A pair of badges from the late 1970s:
…some discs from 1979/80:
…and yet more discs, this time from 1980/81:
Albion slogan badges
Measuring 35mm x 35mm, here are some beauties from the late 1970s:
With their fun, informal typeface, they were perfect to help young Seagulls supporters to declare their love and enthusiasm for their side.
Player badges from the late-1970s
A trip to the home of Nick from Fishergate led me to scanning these rather lovely 65mm x 65mm badges from the late 1970s:
Top row: Graham Winstanley, Mark Lawrenson, Paul Clark
Middle row: Andy Rollings, Peter Ward, Chris Cattlin
Bottom row: Brian Horton, Gary Williams, Peter O’Sullivan
Apparently, according to Nick, there were shops along Sackville Road, Hove, that used to sell badges such as these on Saturdays, to make a bit of money as supporters made their way to the Goldstone Ground on Old Shoreham Road.
I was actually given a set of these when I was about five or six in the mid-1980s, as I decided that making badges was a very fine hobby. So, yes, I took off the head and shoulder images of the various Brighton players and replaced them with my own designs. Silly me.
Suffice to say that I won’t be doing that with these!
We’re going on a Brighton bear hunt
On Facebook, there are a few groups that can help you get your Brighton retro fix. For instance, there is the sublime Brighton-Past where members share an incredible archive of photos relating to the city/town. With more of an Albion focus, there is the equally splendid He Shot, He Scored. It Must Be Peter Ward group.
One photo that did the rounds a few months ago was this evocative image of Peter Ward holding a teddy bear, with former ‘next big thing’ Glen Geard in the background:
As you may remember, last year, we already looked at this bear in these snaps during Albion’s promotion season in 1978/79:
But now, there are a few more to add to the pile. For instance, in the Peter Ward group, Matthew Yeates wrote of his now increasingly scary looking bear – look at those eyes now:
30 years on and I still have that teddy in my loft. Think my mum and dad bought it for me from the old club shop at the Goldstone. Spent most of its life on my bed wearing my old British Caledonian kit.
Meanwhile, Graham Lucas scanned a photo of himself with a rude slogan on T-shirt, plus the fluffy pal he took to Newcastle in 1979:
Thanks, chaps! That bear seemed to have been ubiquitous at the time. Clearly, Maybank wasn’t the only Teddy in town.
Happy New Year …with Albion Calendar 1980!
Short of Peter O’Sullivan, Teddy Maybank and Gary Williams turning up at your door tipsily singing ‘Auld Lang Syne’, what finer retro Albion way to see in the New Year than an invitation for you to feast your eyes on a Brighton football calendar from 1980?
In 1979/80, a company called Print For Sport Ltd launched some lavish A2-sized Soccer Action Calendars for each First Division club, some ‘top’ Second Division clubs (West Ham, Leicester, Sunderland, Newcastle and Burnley, Luton and QPR) and the England team. For just £2.49 each, you received one for your favourite team with twelve colour action shots of first-team players.
The item, advertised heavily in the likes of Shoot! Magazine and Match Weekly, also included red ‘You-Fix’ stickers allowing fans to mark match dates and opponents on the calendar itself. I suppose they could have pre-printed the fixtures directly onto the relevant dates themselves but this was what counted as ‘fun’ and ‘interactive’ in those days!
Here is the Brighton & Hove Albion calendar, lovingly scanned by yours truly:
In a clever, eye-catching design, Malcolm Poskett, Chris Cattlin and Peter Ward are the cover stars.
Then into January is… ermm, Brian Horton with a full head of hair in the perm? Well, it’s definitely Nobby’s signature on the bottom right but, as Alan Wares (Albion Roar) from North Stand Chat has identified, it’s Andy Rollings blocking the shot from Orient’s Alan Whittle in a memorable 3-3 draw. Peter O’Sullivan and Mark Lawrenson are in the background, along with Clark’s hair!
Next up is Malcolm Poskett, also in action against Orient, out to prove Alan Mullery was right to prefer him to Wardy in the number eight shirt for this match.
When Peter Ward does show up in March, it’s on a bad hair day.
Steve Foster had signed for the Seagulls in pre-season in the summer of 1979. Without a genuine match appearance for Brighton to his name yet, he strikes a pose for the camera instead.
In the same Blackburn game where he scored a goal in the midst of a smoke bomb going off, here’s Teddy Maybank challenging for the ball.
Eric Steele shows a safe pair of hands for the camera.
‘Viking’ Paul Clark on the ball, possibly against Luton in April 1979.
New signing John Gregory juggles the ball.
Veteran Chris Cattlin is star of the month for September 1980 even though his Albion playing were over by then.
Gary Williams carries the ball out against Blackburn.
Proving his acting skills are no better than his punditry skills, Mark Lawrenson fakes celebrating a goal!
And finally, Gerry Ryan goes for a dribble.
As you can see, 1st January 1980 fell on a Tuesday, whereas 1st January 2014 is a Wednesday, so you’ll be disappointed if you were hoping to print this out and use it, unamended, as your calendar for the New Year. Significantly, 1980 was also a leap year so you’ll have to wait all the way until 2036 before this calendar fits the bill again. Never mind! I hope that you are patient. In the meantime, Happy New Year!
Brighton & Hove Albion jigsaw puzzle of 1977/78
Congratulations to historian Tim Carder on the successful launch of the Brighton & Hove Albion museum at the Amex last night.
The museum is situated through Dick’s Bar on the North Stand and captures the history of the club in a very vivid way.
On North Stand Chat, one user Henfield One summed it perfectly when he said:
The Museum is quite simply brilliant – and huge thanks and gratitude goes to Tim for all his hard work and belief to bring it to reality. It is exactly how a museum should be – interactive, fresh, bright, nostalgic but tracing the history of the Club in a lively (non-cobwebby way).
A real supporter’s museum – a museum for all.
Well done Tim, thank you.
There were many interesting items, such as the shirts of Norman Gall, Chris Cattlin, Peter Ward, Tony Grealish and Steve Penney, models of the Goldstone and Withdean, an Albion fan’s bedroom full of memorabilia, as well as video and audio features. Many, many collectors’ items I hadn’t seen before.
Tantalisingly, you may have seen 32 pieces of this Albion jigsaw:
And if you want to see more, well, a few months ago, Brighton supporter Karl Wood was kind enough to send me these photos of the 1977/78 jigsaw puzzle that came in a tube:
With colour team group on one side, and a monochrome image of Alan Mullery on the other, it would have high on my Christmas list had I been around in 1977!
I wonder if anyone was tempted to ask Mullers at the launch last night: was Teddy Maybank really the missing piece?
They played for Brighton & Portsmouth
Recently, I’ve discovered a rather curious collection of coloured drawings of players who played for the Albion and Portsmouth. Leant to me by Nick from Fishersgate, they are neither stickers nor cards. These Victory Blend illustrations are simply printed on small sheets of paper.
Maybe the rest of the collection includes the players of Fratton who have fraternised with Southampton… or Crystal Palace… or Millwall – I just don’t know! If anyone has any details about this series, please comment. For now, I will concern myself with these ten collectables. Give or take a Warren Aspinall, I wonder if it’s possible to construct a decent, well balanced football team out of these players:
Goalkeeper: Doug Flack.
Fulham’s goalkeeper who joined the club in 1935 and made one war-time appearance for the Albion in January 1940, losing 1-0 at Reading. Also guested for Portsmouth in the war years before being a regular in Fulham’s 1948/49 Second Division championship side.
Centre-back: Gary Stevens.
Outstanding, classy defender during Albion’s glory years in the top flight. He joined Tottenham and played for England before injury problems wrecked his career. Joined Portsmouth on loan in January 1990, which became a permanent deal.
Centre-back: Steve Foster.
Beginning with Portsmouth as a centre-forward, he turned into a central defender and transferred to Brighton after the club had gained its First Division status in 1979. After spells with Aston Villa, Luton and Oxford, Fozzie rejoined the Albion in the 1992/93 season.
Midfielder: John Ruggiero.
Joined Brighton in June 1977, scoring on his League debut against Southampton. Loaned to Portsmouth for a month in December 1977 before making his final Albion appearance in the famous match with Blackpool in April 1978.
Inside forward: Bert Barlow.
Portsmouth’s Bert Barlow scored in the 1939 FA Cup Final, but I could find not record of him playing for Brighton. Perhaps there was confusion with K Barlow, a Southampton born lad leant to the Albion for a game against his own club in 1944/45.
Inside-forward / Centre-forward: Albert Mundy.
With his 87 goals in 165 League appearances for the Albion from 1953 to 1958, mainly as an inside forward, Mundy is the second highest scorer in Albion history. He joined the club from Portsmouth where he established a growing reputation.
Centre-forward: Jackie ‘Jock’ Anderson.
A Portsmouth player for thirteen seasons, he scored against Wolves in the 1939 FA Cup Final victory. Played three times for Albion during the war as a guest, beginning with a home match with West Ham in 1943.
Inside forward: Bill Pointon.
A Port Vale player who made a single appearance guesting for Brighton at home to Portsmouth in April 1944. I’m unsure when he played for Portsmouth, but it was probably as a wartime guest player as well.
Inside forward: J. Lewis.
Looking rather like a member of Frankie Goes To Hollywood! He played for Portsmouth in between two spells with Bristol Rovers. The second time at Eastville led to a call up to Wales’ team, where he figured in a 1-0 win over England in March 1906. Two months later, he left for Brighton where he played 43 times before joining Southampton.
Winger: Mark Chamberlain.
Explosive winger who made his name with Stoke and England early in his career. An unsuccessful move to Sheffield Wednesday marred his career before returning to form with Portsmouth. He had a so-so spell with Brighton in the 1990s before being released. You can read more about him here.
As you can see, even though with only ten in the side, this team is refreshingly attack-minded. If only Oscar Garcia could choose an Albert Mundy or a ‘Jock’ Anderson (in their prime, of course!) to solve Brighton’s very current striker crisis!
‘Splash it on’ with the Seagulls’ deodorant and aftershave
A few months’ ago, this blog carried a feature on Seagulls Talc.
Little did I know at the time, but it was quite frequently promoted in the matchday programme during the build-up to Christmas in the 1978/79 season as Albion sweated it out as they brought their promotion bid back on course.
For example, in the programme against West Ham in October 1979, it said:
Our players were photographed earlier in the week sampling the first ‘Sports’ splash-on deodorant and after shave and also talc which is now available bearing the official ‘Seagull’ motif. Beware of imitations. There is only one such product available officially endorsed by the club and it really is quite something. The complete pack as well as individual items are available from the Club shops.
An advert with this extraordinary photo was included:
Clearly, what was OK for Kevin Keegan and Henry Cooper (in the famous Brut advert) was also fine for Alan Mullery and co. The players left to right were Teddy Maybank, Peter Ward, Chris Cattlin (although the talc or deodorant seems to have made him look rather like Johan Cruyff!) and Gary Williams.
The advert informed fans that the products are “ideal Christmas presents or gifts on any occasion for the Seagull supporter.” They were available from the Seagulls Shops during match days and the promotions office during the week, as well as many local stockists.
For £3.74, you could get a Club Gift Set…
(Apologies for the blurriness of this and other product images. That’s just the steam coming out of the shower, I promise!)
For just £1.30, a bottle of the splash-it-on aftershave could be yours…
For just £1.04 and 99p each, how about the deodorant antiperspirant and, our old friend from the previous blog entry, the sport talc?
Finally, you could get the Club Gift Set of the Sport Talc and Sport Splash for £2.65. That’s a cool 36p more than if you’d bought them separately but at least it came in a lovely presentation box…
Buy one! Buy two! In fact, buy it all! The products were advertised as being ‘created exclusively and officially for Brighton and Hove Albion by Panache cosmetics, manufacturers of several leading brands of toiletries.’
This was backed up by the words of Ron Pavey, Commercial Manager, in the Peterborough programme in early November. He said:
“The new splash-it-on deodorant, Talc and after shave etc is now available with the distinctive Seagull motif and this is already in great demand and a pack containing the set makes an ideal Christmas gift.”
Yes, an ideal Christmas gift, although a fortnight later in the Millwall programme, Ron also began promoting some ‘beautiful fluffy toys at reasonable prices’ of (would you believe it?) long haired teddy bears, long haired rabbits, smurfs, spiders and dogs. Yes, I bet that struck fear into the hearts of Millwall players and supporters alike. If I ever find photos of said bargains, I’ll let you know.
Great Albion kits: 1983/84 Home
You may notice that this pin-striped beauty from 1983/84 is also the shirt in the logo of The Goldstone Wrap. I bought it from Phil Shelley of Old Football Shirts.
It was an updated version of the elegant number that Brighton wore at the 1983 FA Cup Final. If you look very closely at images from the Final against Manchester United, you can see that the V-neck and shirt cuffs of the Brighton players were plain white. By the start of the 1983/84 season, however, a very smart thin blue and red trim was added by adidas, as you can see here.
There are some other lovely touches to the shirt, such as the red pinstripe running through the badge behind the seagull on the crest. The pinstripes also ran through the cut out letters of ‘Brewery,’ following the sponsorship deal clinched with Phoenix Brewery in October 1983. Before the deal, Albion had started their return to Division Two sponsorless, as the three year deal with British Caledonian Airways had expired at the end of 1982/83.
‘FA Cup Finalist 1983’ is proudly added under the crest. Of course, the classic three stripes running down the sleeves for that vintage Adidas vibe and the sponsor’s logo, crest and manufacturer’s logo are very tastefully balanced together. One surprising aspect of the shirt is that it is made of cotton rather than polyester. In 1983/84, the shirt was usually worn with white short and blue socks, and it received national exposure in January 1984, when ‘The Big Match Live’ broadcasted Brighton’s famous 2-0 victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup, with Eric Young, Steve Penney and Tony Grealish giving Liverpool a torrid time. It may have helped that they were wearing a bit of #kitporn as classy as this!
The Goldstone Wrap 