Jersey story

8/1

Jersey Story

To celebrate the World Cup, the people at Jacobin, a Brooklyn based socialist journal (https://jacobinmag.com/) came up with the idea of creating a unique jersey for their readers and fans. It's theme would be "Football is a country," inspired both by Eduardo Galeano's Futbol a sol y sombra (Soccer in sun and shadow), perhaps the best book ever written about soccer, and Africa is a country (https://www.facebook.com/Africasacountry/), an eclectic internet space  for progressive art and culture from al of Africa and the African diaspora. The idea  seemed to be that football the game creates a reality that is beyond boundaries where the beauty of the experience of the game transcends any national loyalties. And we could wear this jersey while watching  the games in celebration of that experience.

The jersey itself was intriguing. In the upper left, instead of a team crest, the Jacobin "J" in the journal's distinctive font.

The main image is essentially a post modern deconstruction of World Cup brackets and in small print, the nicknames of 8 teams:

Super Eagles: Nigeria
Les Bleus:  France
La Albiceleste: Argentina
The Three Lions: England
Die Mannschaft: Germany
Les Lions de la Teranga: Senegal
La Furia Roja: Spain
Selecao: Brazil

So...why 8?  Why these 8?  

On the back a graphic for 'Football is a country" borrowed from "Africa is a country" and a MNOB (magazine name?) "Jacobin" with a stylized "18."

Altogether an interesting  creation and worthy of a bar conversation or two. I ordered it immediately and anxiously awaited its arrival. But, perhaps inevitably, there were "problems with production" and the jerseys finally arrived Monday, July 30th, two weeks after the World Cup final. I will leave it to others for finding any metaphors in the story. 

(Happily all proceeds did go to Africa is a country...)