For a world so marked by advertising slogans, technical jargon and the waffling of commentators, football is conspicuously devoid of personal engagement between players and fans.
This is, in part, down to a 2014 FIFA ruling that banned players displaying messages on their kits after scoring – whether personal, political or professional – and which carried punishments of fines and suspension.
As Craig Oldham and Rick Banks' lovingly compiled new book, I Belong to Jesus, shows, this practice was a rich, extensive tradition of self-expression; visually and descriptively collected in a publication that acts as palimpsest of collective, sometimes fractious, memories (and meticulously designed to boot).
Take, for instance, Robbie Fowler's 1997 display of pro-docker sentiment. In 1995, a tumultuous dispute between the Liverpool dockers and the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company led to the sacking of a number of workers, who fought for two years to have their jobs reinstated (garnering a wealth of press and media support in the process). In a match against Norway's SK Brann, Fowler and Steve McManaman – then Liverpool FC strikers – both wore undershirts with bastardised Calvin Klein logos professing solidarity with the cause. Fowler, scoring first, revealed his during the match. Duly fined by FIFA, he won the lifelong respect of the local working class community (even the Everton fans among them).
I Belong to Jesus features a wealth of similar case studies, under the chapter headings of 'Politics', 'Religion', 'Personal Matters' and 'Football Folklore' (though covering topics as diverse as social awareness, the environment, war and family). Providing a 'visual narrative of perhaps one of the last real, personal, unchecked forums and genuine connections between player and supporter', say the authors, the book features coded outbursts from players as auspicious as Mario Balotelli, Ian Wright, Paul Pogba, Billy Sharp, Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney and, the inspiration for the book's title, Kaka.
Published in a limited edition (thread sewn, bound with an armband and resembling a referee's notebook), I Belong to Jesus is proof that, even for non-football fans, the beautiful game can carry truly meaningful messages.
The publication is a survey of ’one of the last real, personal, unchecked forums and genuine connections between player and supporter’
Under the chapter headings of ’Politics’, ’Religion’, ’Personal Matters’ and ’Football Folklore’, the book features a wealth of insightful, controversial and irreverent moments, now abolished by a 2014 FIFA ruling
As I Belong to Jesus shows, this practice was a rich, extensive tradition of self-expression; collected here in a publication that acts as palimpsest of collective, sometimes fractious, memories.
Robbie Fowler’s 1997 display of pro-docker sentiment is a salient example of the book’s political content.
The book’s striking, punchy design is exemplified in spreads from the ’Religion’ section (pictured).
Published in a limited edition, the book is thread sewn, bound with an armband and packaged with a replica Kaka t-shirt (bearing the titular slogan ’I Belong to Jesus’)
INFORMATION
For more information and ordering, visit the I Belong to Jesus website
-
First look – Bottega Veneta and Flos release a special edition of the Model 600Gino Sarfatti’s fan favourite from 1966 is born again with Bottega Veneta’s signature treatments gracing its leather base
-
We stepped inside the Stedelijk Museum's newest addition in AmsterdamAmsterdam's Stedelijk Museum has unveiled its latest addition, the brand-new Don Quixote Sculpture Hall by Paul Cournet of Rotterdam creative agency Cloud
-
On a sloped Los Angeles site, a cascade of green 'boxes' offers inside outside livingUnStack, a house by FreelandBuck, is a cascading series of bright green volumes, with mountain views
-
Discover Eve Arnold’s intimate unseen images of Marilyn Monroe‘Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold’, published by ACC Art Books, is a personal portrayal of an icon
-
10 books culture editor Hannah Silver recommends this winterLacking inspiration over what to read next? Wallpaper* culture editor, Hannah Silver, shares her favourite books
-
‘Gas Tank City’, a new monograph by Andrew Holmes, is a photorealist eye on the American West‘Gas Tank City’ chronicles the artist’s journey across truck-stop America, creating meticulous drawings of fleeting moments
-
'I’m So Happy You Are Here': discover the work of Japanese women photographersSubtitled ‘Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now’, this new monograph from Aperture is a fascinating insight into a critically overlooked body of work
-
How the west won: Ivan McClellan is amplifying the intrepid beauty of Black cowboy cultureIn his new book, 'Eight Seconds: Black Cowboy Culture', Ivan McClellan draws us into the world of Black rodeo. Wallpaper* meets the photographer ahead of his Juneteenth Rodeo
-
‘Package Holiday 1968-1985’: a very British love affair in pictures‘Package Holiday’ recalls tans, table tennis and Technicolor in Trevor Clark’s wistful snaps of sun-seeking Brits
-
‘Art Exposed’: Julian Spalding on everything that’s wrong with the art worldIn ‘Art Exposed’, Julian Spalding draws on his 40 years in the art world – as a museum director, curator, and critic – for his series of essays
-
Marisol Mendez's ‘Madre’ unpicks the woven threads of Bolivian womanhoodFrom ancestry to protest, how Marisol Mendez’s 'Madre' is rewriting the narrative of Bolivian womanhood
