Degerfors applies for money

Swedish club Degerfors IF is the holder of the only football museum in Sweden. It is a classic club of the industrial era and with the decline in industry the football team has given very uneven performances for quite some time now. Lately though, the team enjoys good form in the Swedish second division.
The municipality of Degerfors are like most Swedish countryside municipalities of today under great financial strain. So, in order for the clubs to meet with Swedish FA regulations of stadium recquirements, Degerfors has applied for extra funds from the region council (reports Karlskoga-Kuriren).

These funds would include money to spend on the refurbishment of the stadium of Stora Valla. The Degerfors football museum is not located in the stadium but in a building nearby but the notion is to move the museum, perhaps not into a stand but surely in the stadium's own area.

More on this as the projects develops.

Aberdeen plans for club museum

Aberdeen FC are set to build a new stadium holding 21'000 spectators. The £40 million project is underway with its aim to be an iconic landmark and an important gateway to Aberdeen.
The stadium plan includes a club shop, a gym, a café and gladly, a museum.

Read more on BBC Scotland

We hope to address these museum plans as the project develops.

Museum Ball I: Society for outdoor games

The collection number GM:35554 stands for a lovely old football from the beginning of the 20th century. It belonged to the "Society for outdoor games" in Göteborg/Gothenburg, Sweden (founded in 1893). The ball is made of leather, weighs 420 grams and is 19 centimetres across.
It was aquired to the former History Museum in Göteborg in 1977 which collections has been reorganised into the Göteborg City Museum.

This ball featured in the 2004 exhibition "Handens Intelligens" (Intelligence of the Hand) at the Göteborg City Museum

Exhibition: Sexuality and Football

Germany is the host of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and in realtion to the tournament the Gay Museum of Berlin (Schwules Museum) is to open a new exhibition, on June 23rd, entitled: On the other side - Artistic throw-ins to FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011. (Andererseits - Künstlerische Einwürfe zur Frauenfußball WM 2011).

The Museum has invited artists, interested in using the means at their disposal to research the conflict between sex, (homo) sexuality and football. The exhibition will raise the “flags” and broach the subject of football as a field of “doing gender”, as a playground for social and cultural issues upon which the debate about societal gender assignment is also fought very heatedly.

A catalogue will be published. Among other events Tanja Walther-Ahrens will present her new book “Seitenwechsel” (Changing Sides).

Opening: Thursday, 23rd June 2011, 7 p.m.
Location: Schwules Museum, Ground Floor and Second Floor (Entrance 1st Yard)
Mehringdamm 61, 10961 Berlin
Duration: 24th June until 25th September 2010
Project Manager: Dr. Birgit Bosold

Fact File: Real Madrid Museum

The Real Madrid Musem

Real Madrid C.F is a Spanish club, founded in 1902, playing in the Primera division, also known as La Liga.

Location: in their home ground Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid
Opening year: 1999
Annual visitor number: 700 000
Collection size: 8000 objects (about 5% is on display)

For successful football campaigns it is hard to find any club that has a greater record than the Madrid whites of Real. Even impossible. And Real has the trophy to prove it in their museum: FIFA awarded them a grand trophy for being voted "the Best Club of the Century". Other priceless trophies are the original European cup and the first victory, the 1905 Spanish Cup.

Perhaps not the biggest win but surely the biggest and heaviest trophy is one made out as a castle, wighing 75 kg and 1,5 metres high.

Two players really stand out in the Real Madrid saga, both are represented in the museum collections and exhibitions with numerous shirts and boots: Alfredo di Stefano and Rául.
Especially legendary are the last boots of di Stefano. Other player-related objects are gloves of keeper Iker Casillas and the boots of Peda Mijatovic, worn in the 1998 Champions League final.

The museum's collections also holds objects and archive material of the 25 other sport sections of Real Madrid.

Thanks to Rubén Rueda, Real Madrid

Read more about the Real Madrid Museum at their website

June Football auction at Bonhams

Some eight months after the high-profile sale of George Best Memorabilia it is time for a new auction at Bonhams in Chester.
The George Best auction last october was the result of setting the score with the executors of Best's estate firing a feude among his family members, some of which wanted to keep the honours.

The outcome of the auction were staggering sums of the Manchester United and Northen Ireland legend's medals and silverware. His European Cup medal went under the hammer for £156 000. Most buyers were anonymous.
As to my knowledge the Manchester United Museum did not bid for the most interesting and expensive items.
Nor did the issue of a George Best museum in Northern Ireland rise, as was being discussed a couple of years back.

The auction starting tomorrow deals with a great deal of signed shirt and programmes. Among them is a programme for the World Cup final 1958 (of special interest to me, Sweden played Brazil with two ÖIS players in the line up, Simonsson even scored on '80).

For those interested in Boots, Teddy Sheringham's old England Adidas of 1999 is a couple a few boots on sale.
The most interesting shirt, the Vava of the 1962 World Cup Final has been withdrawn.

Whatever happened to the Australian World Cup qualification winning penalty spot and ball?

When John Aloisi scored the deciding spot kick against Uruguay it meant that Austarlia would play their first World Cup in 31 years. It was 16th November 2005 and the qualification match between Australia and Uruguay had gone to a penaly shoot-out finale.

The nervous home side supporters of the Socceroos exploded in joy when that last kick put the ball inte back of the net. It was surely a moment of great national importance. The historic value of the event was acknowledged when it was decided that not only would the penalty kick ball be kept but also the very penalty kick spot, a patch of grass, were to be preserved, dry-frozen.

The ball and piece of turf was on display in the Telstra stadium before ending up in an exhibition in the Powerhouse Museum, entitled "The World Cup dream: stories of Australia's soccer mums and dads".

In June 2006 the ball and piece of turf was sold at an ebay charity auction, with the profit benefitting the Johnny Warren Football Foundation. The final sum was 17 500 Australian Dollars.

But where are those artifacts of great historic value and national importance now?
They should be in a museum, and perhaps they are? Or maybe they just decorate the mantelpiece of a wealthy football fan?

Do you know what has happened to the Aloisi penalty spot and ball?
Then, get in touch with me here

Player Profile: Jamie Carragher

Jamie Carragher is a true Liverpool legend. It is the only club he ever played for and he is regarded as one of the most loyal and successful defenders in Liverpool history, although he grew up an Everton fan.

The no. 23, nick-named "Carra" made his debut in 1996, and became a first regular the following season. Having mainly played as a full-back he later came to play in central defence, with the equally legendary Sami Hyypiä among others, when Rafael Benitez became manager in 2004.

As an England player he earned 38 national caps and was talked out of retirement for the 2010 World Cup.
Carragher's biggest honours include winning the FA Cup in 2001 & 2006; the UEFA Cup in 2001; the League Cup in 2001 & 2003 and of course the Champions League in 2005.
For the 2006/7 season he was elected Liverpool FC Player of the Year.

The Liverpool FC Museum has all of Jamie Carragher's medals, most of them displayed in a special case. Musuem Curator Stephen Done desrcibes the collection on the LFC website:

"The way Carra donated his medals to the Museum is typical of the man.
Jamie had just brought them in, dumped them on the desk and told them to give Stephen Done a call.
So off I went and there they were, in this bag. He didn't want a receipt or anything. He just told me to put them on show in the museum and walked off.

It was absolutely unbelievable. It is one of the great moments I have had here as a museum curator and shows just how down to earth and trusting our favourite number 23 is.
I have to say that I think it is one of the most exciting additions we have ever received.
For me, it ranks alongside the Kenny Dalglish and Alan Hansen collections that are already on show. /.../
It also illustrates how fantastic Jamie Carragher has been as a player."

Fact File: Arsenal Museum

The Arsenal Museum

Arsenal FC is an English Premier League club, founded in 1886.

Location: in their home ground Emirates stadium, Islington, north London
Opening year: 1993 (in old Highbury stadium, closed in 2006) and 2006 in the new Emirates stadium
Annual visitor number: 120 000 ca
Collection size: 10 000 objects ca (about 10% is on display)

Among the many trophies, one shurley stands out: The unbeaten trophy from 2003-2004. Arsenal is the only Club since Preston in 1888/89 to have gone through an entire League campaign without losing a match.
A less prestigous one although typical Arsenal is the trophy for the best golfer at Arsenal FC. Since the 1930s under Herbert Chapman, Arsenal FC players have played golf to relax. This trophy was last held by Len Wills (1953-62).

Another fine piece is a silver shield commemorating the hat-trick of League Championships 1933 - 35 .

Other museum objects include club player related artifacts of Arsenal legends like: David Rocastle, Charlie George, David O’Leary, George Armstrong and George Graham.
As for famous Balls and Boots, the two stand out items are the ball from the 1936 Cup Final and Michael Thomas’ boots which he wore when he scored the second goal against Liverpool at Anfield 1989, possibly the most famous goal in Arsenal’s history.

The Arsenal Museum plans to get a temporary exhibition display area and getting more of the collection display around the stadium.

Prices: £6 (£3 concessions) or as part of a stadium tour.
Museum Opening Times:
Monday to Friday: 10am-6pm (last admittance 5pm)
Saturday: 10am-6pm (last admittance 5pm)
Sunday: 10am-5pm (last admittance 4pm)
Matchdays: 10am until half an hour before kick off. The museum will not be open after the match.

Thanks to Samir Singh, Museum and Education Assistant, Arsenal

Read more about Arsenal Museum on their website

Exhibition: History of Hamburg fans

In february 2011 the club museum of Hamburger SV opened a new temporary exhibition about the HSV fan culture named: "Wir stehen Schlange vor dem Stadion – Die Geschichte der HSV-Fans“. (We're standing in line in front of the stadium - the history of the HSV fans)

The exhibition follows the development of fan culture from the Empire period up til present day, describing the various dimensions of being a HSV fan.
There are video documentaries with interviews of fans from the 1920's and presentations of fan groups world wide.
Visitors get a chance to experience the supporter terrace of the HSV arena in a replica of the Fantribüne.

Social aspects and football-related violence are two other themes of the exhibition which seems to be well worth a visit.

The exhibition will run until spring next year, so there's plenty of time.

Link to the exhibition

The HSV Museum is located in the HSV Arena in Hamburg. It changes names quite often. When I was there it was called 'Nordbank Arena' but it is 'Imtech Arena' but I feel that it would be all right to just call it 'Volkparkstadion'. In the UEFA context it is simply called "Hamburg Arena".

Pelé Museum planned for 2012 opening

The city of Santos, Brazil plans to open the Pelé museum in 2012.

Pelé joined Santos when he was 15 years old in 1956, and stayed til 1974. He is regarded by many as the greatest player ever, with three World Cup wins and massive goal-scoring statistics.
It was reported some years ago that the city of Santos was set to establish a Pelé museum. To follow up on this information I got in touch with the city of Santos.

The ambition of Santos city hall back in 2010 was to launch two projects to create jobs and boost the economy as well as tourism. One of which was the Pelé Museum.

The location of the Museum will be in the neighbourhood of Valongo, currently a poor part of Santos that is facing great problems. However, the municipality has confirmed a large budget for the refurbishment of the whole district of Valongo.
As for the Pelé Museum, the budget of $20 million is covered by the Government of São Paolo state, the Ministry of Culture and other private contributions.

One unique feature of the museum will be an artful sculpture in Pelé's honour created by the legendary architect, Brazilian Oscar Niemeyer, now aged 103!

The aim is to attract many tourists that will go to Brazil for the World Cup in 2014

Thanks to Mariana Munayer, Head of Tourist Information, City of Santos

The picture: Pelé and Oscar Niemeyer with an image of the planned sculpture, at a press conference in november 2010, Rio de Janeiro

Read more on the City of Santos' web
Read more about Pelé and Oscar Niemeyer here (with pics) and here

Link to the FIFA' s World Cup page

Light on the US matter

Regarding the last post on the US Soccer Museum status, I turned to the former Director of the Museum (National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum) Mr Jack Huckel.

Q:
Do you have an updated version of the status of the collections and archives?
I fear that the valuable collection will be sold of.

A:
Let me put you at ease - the collection in general cannot be sold off as part of the agreement with the certifying organization - New York State Office of Museums.

The materials are located in the Eurosport warehouse in North Carolina. The warehouse is a climate controlled facility and the archives are, I have been told, stored separately in a caged area so there is not general availability to its contents. The plan, as expressed to me, is to work with museum and library studies students to work the collection. Hopefully, this will become true.

To make some corrections to your blog post, the National Soccer Hall of Fame is still organized as a non-profit corporate entity. A new Board of Directors is being instituted and it will be a separate entity from the U.S. Soccer Federation, though U.S. Soccer will continue to offer administrative support.

In actuality the two organizations will act together, but legally will be separate.

The key is, of course, that the archives are together and could be used to resurrect the Museum in the future.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This future scenario is not likely anytime soon, so we just have to wait and see what the new Board concludes.
Jack Huckel is now his own man with a specialist firm offering services with work related to Halls of Fame: J.R. Huckel & Associates

More museums added (May 2011)

With the refurbishment of the blog, I have "found" some new football museums, before unknown to me, in just a couple of weeks.
As it is, the only way to find more museums is to search the Internet as thoroghly as possible and language is always a barrier.

So, for the past couple of weeks these museums have been added to the list of Football Museums:

The Legia Warsaw Museum, in Poland
The Steaua Bucharest Museum, in Romania
The Atletico Madrid Museum, in Spain
The River Plate Museum, in Argentina
The Olympique Marseille Museum, in France
The Hertha Berlin Museum, in Germany (scheduled to open in 2012)

Hopefully they can respond to my questions so that I can get a chance to present the museums further here on "Balls & Boots" - the Football Museum blog
Click the link in top link bar for the full list

What are the plans for the US Soccer Collection and Archives?

When the US National Soccer Hall of Fame & Museum closed down in Oneonta, 2009, little was known what was going to happen to the collection of objects. Over a year has passed since the museum's board of directors decided to give up their facilities and break up their displays. The collection and archive was said to be relocated to a warehouse in North Carolina, at a long term sponsor.

The press release of february 2010 said:

"As part of the operating change, the Hall of Fame will close its Oneonta, N.Y., facility and relocate the collections and archives. Preliminary plans include distributing permanent displays for exhibition in several locations nationwide, while elements of the Hall’s archives not on display will be preserved in storage facilities provided by one of the Hall’s longtime corporate sponsors, Eurosport, located in Hillsborough, N.C."

The ownership of the collections and archives is no longer with the former non-profit organisation but with the US Soccer Federation, apparently. The plans for the collection or any future plans for a museum are not known. Rumours has it that the US Soccer Federation wants to relocate the Museum to a larger city, preferably to the stadium of a MLS club.
No luck in that department as of yet.

Balls & Boots will try to get some fresh information on this case.

The National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum opened in 1981 and moved to their new facilities in 1999 before closing in 2009.
In relation to the type of colletcions what other football museums holds, the US one is of particular interest, especially in terms of women's football. For instance, among the world's football museum objects of fantastic players the Mia Hamm collection is a crucial one.

The US Soccer Hall of Fame is still running, still inducting, but without a physical space.

Göteborg Sport's Hall of Fame - nominations for 2011

At the moment, the Sport Museum in Göteborg (Gothenburg) needs candidates for their Hall of Fame to be submitted by the public. A nominee must have been either born or been active for at least five years during their career in the Göteborg district.

Göteborg is commonly known as the Football capital of Sweden and there are quite a few footballers among the 132 previously chosen.

As an ÖIS supporter I nominated Knut "Knatten" Lindberg and Rune Börjesson, although I have just withdrawn my nomination of Lindberg.

Rune Börjesson and fellow striker Agne Simonsson was the dynamic duo of the 1950's ÖIS team. Rune also played 20 national caps between 1958-1961, scoring 17 goals. He was the top goal scorer of the Swedish Top League, Allsvenskan in 1959 and 1960 which earned him a professional spell at Palermo.

Lindberg not only played football for Örgyte IS (ÖIS), where he in the early 1900's won five Swedish Championships. He was also a fine sprinter, holding Swedish record 100 m, 10,6 sec from 1906 til 1936. He won two olympic medals: Silver for Javellin in Athens 1908 and silver in the 4x100 m Relay in Stockholm 1912. All in all he became Swedish champion 28 times.
But the story of Knut Lindberg is not just an epic one of great achievements in sports. Lindberg was a moody, loud drunkard who in 1910 was convicted for manslaughter.

When I found this out I decided that it would not be appropiate that Lindberg, although a character of great interest should be inducted in the Hall of Fame.

This I had to be particular about because at the same time I had insisted that Hall of Fame inductee Viljo Nousiainen should be excluded. Last week when former Swedish Athlete Patrik Sjöberg (who held the world record in High Jump) released his Autobiography, stating that his former coach Nousiainen had abused Sjöberg sexually as a boy.
This story has been confirmed by other men who had Nousiainen as a coach in their childhood.
Patrik Sjöberg represented Örgryte IS, and the club was also the employer of molestor Nousiainen who died in 1999.

Happy 1st May! Football and Socialism

It is of great importance for the governing bodies of Football that the game is totally disconnected from political views and steering. The reality though, is different. Football to great extent is a political instrument as it involves deep feelings of joint identity.

This Intenational Worker's Day, I recommend reading the blog article
Workers of the World United: Football and Socialism,
by an anonymous scribe from the Portsmouth Branch of the Socialist Party.

The image: Tifo of the Communist Fans of AS Livorno

Fact File: Queen of South Museum

Queen of South Museum

The Queen of South is a Scottish league club, founded in 1919, currently playing in Division One.

Location: in the main stand of their home ground Palmerston Park, Dumfries.
Opening year: 1994
Annual visitor number: 400 to 600
Collection size: 1000 objects (almost all are on display)

Museum objects include club player related artifacts like the Scotland top of Billy Houliston and boots of Bobby Black, both local legends. They also have a match shirt worn by Brazilian star Zico in the 1982 World Cup Finals.
The most impressive object among the silverware is the Southern Counties Charity Cup that dates back to the 1880’s. Queen of South has won that cup no less than sixteen times.
One of the less predictable objects in the collection is a piece of fire damaged wood from the old stand fire from 1964.

Queen of South is struggling severely with their finances at the moment. If the club can succeed with their plans to build a new stand, more room will be given to the club museum.

Thanks to Ian Black, Museum Curator, Queen of South

Read more about Queen of South on their website
and about their financial situation on BBC, here and here

Museum Boots V: Williams

The Swindon Museum & Art Gallery holds a pair of boots in their collection that belonged to Fanny Williams. They are made of brown leather with leather studs in size five. She was born in 1894 and played for the Swindon Town Ladies team in the 1920's. Not much is known about her career and even her interest in Football.

From the BBC article (A History of the world):
Ladies football developed during the First World War. Employees of munitions factories formed teams to play against each other. Many of these teams disbanded at the end of the war. However, in some areas, ladies football developed firmer roots and continued into the 1920s. Despite opposition and the Football Association banning ladies football on their grounds, the English Ladies Football Association was formed in 1921. The Ladies Association set up a national Challenge Cup competition in 1922 which was won by Stoke Ladies FC.

Click here for the Swindon Town FC website

Swedish club Utsiktens BK lost everything in the fire

Disaster struck the Göteborg football club Utsiktens BK on Sunday night when their club cabin went up in flames. Staff, fans and players were devastated. The cabin was one of many that are found next to the sports facilities of Ruddalen.

None of the other cabins were damaged. The suburb where Ruddalen, Västra Frölunda is located has been tormented by vandalism and worries for some time. Young punks have been setting cars on fire and assaulting the police and fire brigade. The city of Göteborg has lately been troubled with these scenes but lacks the ability to find a solution.

Utsiktens BK built their club cabin in the 1970's and kept pretty much their entire property there, kits, boots, balls, computers, etc. Sadly they have also lost the material culture of their history and heritage. All of their achives, old photographs, pennants and trophies. It's all gone.
To great extent Utsiktens BK has lost the physical evidence of their history and achievements. This is truly shameful and will scar the collective identity of Utsiktens BK. They are a small club but their loss of proud artefacts and tokens of fond memories is just as great as if it had happened to one of the big clubs.

The game in the Swedish Division 2 (fourth division) against Kållered om Monday was cancelled. Utsiktens BK was formed in 1935 and their current manager is Glenn Hysén, former central defender of Liverpool FC and the Swedish National Team.
A couple of weeks ago his son, who playes for Utsikten, Anton Hysén came out as the first openly homosexual professional footballer in Sweden. It was a milestone in Swedish Football.

Picture: The remains of the Utsiktens club cabin on monday morning, from GöteborgsPosten

Copa del Rey - a museum piece in pieces

Real Madrid won the Spanish Cup, Copa del Rey this week against archrivals Barcelona. It has been reported that during the celebrations defender Sergio Ramos dropped the trophy in the street from the player bus which accidentally ran the trophy over.
The trophy is now in bad shape but is to be repaired before being displayed in a trophy case in the Real Madrid Museum.

Read more here (timesunion.com)

Modern Football needs Museums to promote Nostalgia

Museums have a considerable place in the football world, in terms of promoting history and trademarks. The history displayed at football museums, especially at club museums have often been described as being one that promotes the past highlighting successes, wins and past glories.
Discussing history only in positive terms creates and ideal image of the past commonly known as nostalgia.

Mark Bushell, at the National Football Museum in England, has written his dissertation about the UK heritage industry, nostalgia and football terrace culture, in which he aims to establish whether football supporters have developed a need for nostalgia as a result of the commercialism, globalisation, bourgeoisification and the social and economic disruptions that has affected football in recent years.

The aftermath of the three arena disasters at Bradford, Heysel and Hillsborough in the middle and late 80’s led to what is known as the Taylor report. This report recommended all-seat arenas which led to extensive refurbishments among the stadiums in the UK where more than 75% predated the First World War.
This meant huge costs, as the clubs had to pay themselves, and some clubs were forced to share home grounds.

When the FA Premier League was created in 1992, the top teams received a £304 million TV contract with British Sky Broadcasting which was the starting point for an escalating market and enormous sums of money in television revenues. The clubs have been developing in to business companies with shareholders demanding profits and with ridiculous player salaries, from the £15-20 000 a year, fifteen years ago to £30 000 a week for the top players.

Needless to say, the fans have been marginalised and have to pay a high price to be loyal to their teams. Chelsea raised the price of their season ticket almost eight times in six years and prices with other clubs have also been raised several hundred per cent (probably more now since 2000 when Bushell wrote his dissertation) and the loyal supporters are declining in attendance for corporate sponsors and wealthy fans who experience football as leisure (Bushell, 2000).

The trend is not as clear in other countries but it is apparent that the business aspect of football is rapidly increasing on the expense of the sport and all the smaller clubs. The past, for many fans and supporters does seem like a better place and the times before Heysel, Bradford and Hillsborough are remembered with affection. Football museums can indeed be argued to function as a place for nostalgia where fans and supporters can be taken back to the days of old.
- excerpt from "Football is Forever", 2006.

Note: Today, 22 years ago, the tragedy at Hillsborough struck. 15 april, 1989
Read more on BBC

The question remains: Who needs who?

“ -museums need football far more than football needs museums” - Kevin Moore (Museums and popular culture, 1997)

One of the central qoutes of the museological discussion on Football and Museums adressed in "Football is Forever - the establishment and purposes of Football Museums".

What do you think?
Does museums need football more than football needs museums?
Or does Football need museums more than museums need football?

Two key issues:
1) Museums need the popularity and potential diversity of football audiences
2) Football needs the structure of museums to care for the memories and histories in an escalating development where a different past is left behind in the race for modern football.

Truly a valid discussion topic for museum and football experts alike.

Display of Football during wartime

Came across a temporary football exhibition at The Royal Air Force Museum in London: "Tin Hats and Football Boots."

From the Royal Air Force Museum website:
This display explores the contribution made by various members of Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal Football Clubs to the Royal Air Force and Air Raid Precautions during the Second World War whilst examining how important regular competitive football was to the upkeep of the capital’s morale.

Ellen Solall, football fan and curator:
"It was only whilst conducting research into local history for a Museum project that I realized how integral both Clubs were to London’s war effort. For 90 minutes both players and spectators could escape the horror of war and life would, for a brief period, assume an air of normality – all important for maintaining morale and a reminder of more peaceful times."

"Tin Hats and Football Boots" is on display until 4th July 2011.

Adidas will sponsor the German Football Museum

In the planning of the German National Football Museum, set to open in 2014, the DFB (Deutsches Fussball Bund) has landed a large sponsor deal with sportswear company "Adidas". (report from sportspromedia.com)

Adidas and the German National Team have a close relationship: Adidas has since the World Cup in 1954 provided the Mannschaft with their football wear. And now, Adidas commits to sponsor the construction of the museum with ca 6,7 million Euros, and in return they will be allowed to open an official store on the premises.
The budget of the museum's construction has been raised to ca 34,4 million Euro and therefore the DFB are seeking sponsors. The DFB itself has put in some of the profits from the 2006 World Cup and North-Rhine Westphalia state government also carries a large sum of the total funding.

Construction of the Deutsches Fussball Museum in Dortmund is scheduled to begin in May 2012.

Museum Boots IV: Gamst Pedersen

These Adidas boots were worn by Norwegian striker Morten Gamst Pedersen in the Euro Qualification match against Denmark in Oslo on 26 March. After the game they were donated to the Norwegian Football Museum (Fotballmuseet) which is located inside Norway's National Stadium Ullevaal where the match took place. The game ended 1-1, by the way.

The print: "Stolt fjellabe" ("Proud Mountain Monkey) is explained on Pedersen's blog:

After the Norway-Denmark game I gave the “Proud mountain monkey” boots to the football museum on Ullevaal stadium. It isn’t much, but since it was some focus on the boots and the museum wanted the boots it was easy to give them to the football museum. I’ll explain what the fuzz was all about regarding the boots before the game. Denmark is completely flat, in fact flat as a pancake. The tallest “mountain” in Denmark will just come in among the top ten buildings in London. So the Danes get altitudes sicknes when they’re 50 metres above sea level. So in all their dizziness they call us Norwegians mountain monkeys. And in respect to the “flat head” people of Denmark I got printed “Stolt fjellabe” which of course means proud mountain monkey, on my football boots.

Read the full post here

Canadian Hall of Fame inductees of 2011

The Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum in Ontario, Canada has released the names of this year's inductees in their Hall of Fame.

Among the chosen few is Jimmy Nicholl, born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1956. Playing right back, he earned 73 national caps for Northern Ireland, including particiaption in the World Cup Finals in 1982 & 1986. He spent most of his professional career with Manchester United (winning the FA Cup in 1977) but also played for Rangers, Sunderland, Toronto Blizzard among others. As a manager his biggest success was winning the Scottish League Cup with Raith Rovers in 1994. Since June 2010 he's been the manager of Cowdenbeat F.C

The 1979 team of Vancouver Whitecaps is also to be honoured. The achievement of winning the 1979 NASL featured a few breath-taking games and is of great local importance.

That year, Vancouver won it all and became the city’s first professional sports team to win a major North American Championship when they defeated the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Upon return to Vancouver on Sept. 9, 1979, as many as 100,000 people lined Vancouver’s Robson Street to salute their heroes during a championship parade, arguably creating the most historic moment in Whitecaps history
- from the Whitecap website

The induction celebration will take place in Toronto's Liberty Grand on Saturday, May 28
See all the inductees here, at website of the Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum

Clip of the '79 Soccer Bowl Final

Design agency Music to brand the English National Football Museum

It was announced that Manchester design agency Music is to brand the English National Football Museum. In accordance with the re-opening of the museum later this year in Manchester, following the move from Preston, the National Football Museum will have a new graphic profile. See more of Music's work on their website http://www.designbymusic.com/ Read more here on the "Drum" website The Museum at Manchester's Urbis Building is due to open later this year, with a targeted advertising. Music’s approach to developing the brand identity for National Museum Football has involved creating a flexible system, which enables the museum to reflect the breadth and diversity of football’s appeal, to football fans and non-fans alike.

FC Porto to open a Museum?

A currently unverified rumour on Wikipedia has it that the portugese club FC Porto plans to open their museum to the public soon.
Balls & Boots are searching for further information on this.

FC Porto has more than 20.000 cups and trophies in exposition by its Museum situated in the Dragão Stadium. The Museum is not yet open for public viewing, however it will open in a couple of months.

Museo del Calcio, Italia: Catalogue available online

When browsing the website of Museo del Calcio (the Italian Football Museum in Firenze) their printed catalogue was found, easy readlible on-screen.
Its 134 pages covers mainly the history of Gli Azzuri, the Italian National team, and the Italian Football Association but also an introduction to the museum's collections, archives and displays (including a floor plan).

So, if you know your Italian you'll have a nice time a head of you. Otherwise it could also be a good chance to practise your Italian language skills.

Click here for the catalogue

Moving the English National Football Museum

Almost a year and a half ago, it was reported that the National Football Museum of Preston, England was to be moved to Manchester. When the decision was made final it was not an uncontroversial one. Preston and Lancashire officials claimed to be treated wrongly and put forward the heritage value of Preston as venue for the National Football Museum as it is the place for England's oldest club. However, they city and region lacked the ability to fund the museum and the trustees of the museum got their relocation to Manchester.

The move will presumably attract more visitors than in Preston, which is also one of the major reasons for the move. The aim of 400 000 visitors a year is four times the latest average visitor number in Preston. The National Football Museum is set to open in the autumn of 2011 in the Urbis exhibition centre, Manchester.

And there are talks if the current museum, in Preston, will remain open as a secondary site, with a smaller number of exhibits and items in storage. That will depend on extra funding being found.

Blog refreshened

Yes, indeed. "Balls & Boots" has had a refreshing refurbishment with a new design and some new more effective features. Call back soon for a rundown through the Football Museum TopTen, as read in Offside Magazine and a glance at the new National Football Museum in England.

More to come

A Wikipedia Project

The editor of Balls & Boots has undertaken a projct of his own: to create Football Museum Wikipedia articles and lists. This will foremost be done in Swedish on the Swedish Wikipedia site but hopefully it can eventually be published on English Wikipedia as well.

See the list and head article on Swedish Wikipedia

Well...

... this site has lately been a poor excuse for a blog. The reason is that it is hardly my main occupation to keep it updated as I have a full-time job and just became a father. So, don't expect any updates on the boot of the month and player of the month. I will try to post on-topic news on a more regular basis in the future.

All the best

Museum Boots III: Zola

Museum boot rather is found in the Chelsea FC Museum, London. They were specially made for Gianfranco Zola's 300rd game in 2003 when Chelsea played Blackburn and lost 2-1. The brand is Line and the boot is worth £300-500.

Museum Boots II: Bell

These boots belonged to Colin Bell of Manchester City FC. Colin Bell MBE was born in Helseden, county Durham in 1946 and joined Manchester City in 1966 after three seasons with Bury FC. By many he is regarded as City's best player ever and has won the league, the FA cup and the league cup. He played 48 caps for England and 394 games for Manchester City. Colin Bell wore these Adidas boots in his last match for City in May 1979.
They can be seen at the Manchester City FC Museum

Dortmund wins German Football Museum

The German Football Association, the DFB, has agreed on Dormund for the location of the future National Football Museum. Only months after the opening of the Borussia Dortmund Museum, the Borusseum. Among numerous candidates it finally came down to two at the DFB congress in Düsseldorf: the neighbouring rival cities Gelsenkirchen and Dortmund. In the vote Dortmund came out on top with 137 votes beating the Gelsenkirchen's 102. The Mayor of Dortmund Gerhard Langemayer was very enthusiastic and said that this 30 million Euro project had the city's full support. It was also stated that the museum will be located in the city centre instead of the perhaps typical placement inside or nearby a stadium (which in Germany often is placed a few kilometres inside suburbialand). Opening is scheduled for 2012 Read more here (DFB) and here (DW)

edit/ 11 April 2011: German Football Museum is now to open in 2014 /

Player Profile: Ernst Kuzorra

Ernst Kuzorra played for Schalke04 for his entire career. He led his team to six national championships and one national cup, 1934-1942. By many he is regarded as the greatest Schalke player of all time.

Kuzorra made an early debut in 1919 and played his last game in 1950. As many teammates Kuzorra also worked in the mines of the Ruhr area, which was also where Schalke got their nickname from “Die Knapern”, like the young miners were called. Among them was his main partner Fritz Szepan, they also came to be brothers-in-law when they married sisters. During the 1920’s Kuzorra success began to grow and he made his national team debut in 1927, although after falling out with national manager Otto Nerz, his national caps came to mere 12.

However as a Striker he was the key player in the trademark Schalke Kreisel, a game style with quick short passing. Kuzorra became a living legend after his career as both player, manager and president for Schalke 04. His record of six national championship wins wasn’t broken until 1990 when Klaus Augenthaler won his seventh in 1990.

Ernst Kuzorra died on New Year’s day in 1990, aged 84. The Schalke04 Museum holds many object related to Ernst Kuzorra, among them: his personal photo album.

Hartman Donates Record-Setting Gloves

Today we learn from the National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum in the U.S that goalkeeper Kevin Hartman of Kansas City Wizards has donated his record-setting gloves and jersey after setting a record in the MLS with 1137 saves.

Hartman presented Hall of Fame Director of Museum and Archives Jack Huckel his game-worn jersey and gloves from the record setting match following the Sunday, April 5 Wizards’ shutout victory over San Jose, where Hartman extended his own record for career shutouts to a higher level. "I am excited that the Hall of Fame will place this jersey and these gloves on display,” Hartman said. “Every player dreams of being in the Hall of Fame. I don’t know if I’ll get elected, but a piece of my history is there and that’s very special to me. I look forward to visiting Oneonta in the future and seeing all the displays at the Museum.”

Hartman’s jersey and gloves will go on exhibition in the Hall of Fame MLS Display during the month of April.

Museum Boots I: Marante

These Boots belonged to the Argentinian defender José Manuel Marante (1915-1993) who played for Boca juniors between 1934 and 1950. He won 4 league titles (1934, 1940, 1943 & 1944) and the Copa America with Argentina in 1946 and 1947.
The Boots are on display in the Boca Juniors Museum in Buenos Aires, El Museo de la Pasión Boquense

Opening of South American Football Museum

On Januray 29th the CONMEBOL (Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol) inaugurated the South American Football Museum, located in Luque, Paraguay by the CONMEBOL headquartes. Among the dignitaries were CONMEBOL President Nicolás Leoz and vice-president Eugenio Figueredo, together with FIFA President, Joseph Blatter, former FIFA-president, Joao Havelange and the Vice-president of the Republic of Paraguay in exercise of the presidency, Dr. Federico Franco.

"The greatness of this museum demonstrates CONMEBOL's value to South American football and is an example for the world. All the associations must be thanked for their contribution to this building," said Havelange.

The 1.500 square meter museum, spreads in two levels, united by a wide ramp of audiovisual and interactive content that ends in a large 360 degree auditorium shaped like a giant football, in which a movie about the origin of football, its arrival and evolution in South America. In the different panels, the whole history of South American football is exhibited with spectacular photos, videos, jerseys and historical objects.

Read more here on CONMEBOL's homepage and here on FIFA.com

Debate in Bradford Museum

The Bradford City FC Museum - Bantamspast - hosted a lively debate the other week about the city's new sports venue Odsal Sports Village. The event attracted many interested visitors. The Odsal Sports Village foremost affect the rugby team Bradford Bulls but Bradford City FC might be forced to move from their home stadium Valley Parade, due to financial reasons. Dave Baldwin, Bradford City’s chief executive, stated that if the rent isn't reduced or a scheme to buy the stadium can be arranged, Bradford City FC has to seriously consider moving their home games to Odsal. Although fans are reluctant to move from Valley Parade (where the club museum it placed), it will surely come down to economics. Bradford City FC is chasing promotion in League Two at the moment. For more information, click here (Bantamspast homepage)

New Exhibition: "Local Hero"

Last saturday 28 march the National Museum in Preston, England opened a new exhibition called "Local Hero", a tribute to Sir Tom Finney, legendary winger of Preston North End. This saturday on 4 april, Sir Tom himself will be a guest at the museum, signing copies of the commemorative brochure. Read more here, on the National Football Museum website

German Football Museum in 2012 *updated: in 2014

I am delighted to hear that the German Football Association DFB (Deutscher Fussball Bund) has decided to establish a National Football Museum. The appointed Museums Coordinator is Dr Martin Wörner who has for years tried to create such an institution alongside writing numerous articles on the topic.
Dr Wörner's latest project was the creation of the "Borusseum", the club museum of Borussia Dortmund.

The DFB National Football Museum will open in 2012 and this april a decision is going to be made whether the museum will be located in Gelsenkirchen or Dortmund. Further information is available here on the DFB homepage Visit also: The Borusseum and Dr Wörner's website Deutsches Fussball Museum

edit/ 11 April 2011: German Football Museum is now to open in 2014 /

Questions for Museums

At the moment I am collecting answers from Football Museums on these questions:

1) When was your museum founded?
2) What is your annual visitor number?
3) Where are you located?
4) What do you consider is your finest object?
5) Do you have any particular ball and/or boots in your collection with a special history?
6) Which object related to a player are you especially proud of to have in your collection?
7) Which trophy in your collection is the most important?
8) Can you name an object in your museum collection that is amusingly odd?
9) How many objects do you have in your collections?
10) How many percent of your total collection is displayed in the museum exhbitions?
11) Do you have any concrete plans for the near future?
12) Do you have any future exhbitions planned? If so, please name them/it.
13) Do you have any museum sponsors? If so, please name them/it.

Please submit answers here