Football Philately

Lincoln City Division 4 Champions 1976

2012-08-05T11:48:00.000+01:00

The Football Philately Dawn Cover Collection
Continuing with our Dawn Covers collection today is Lincoln City whose efforts in winning the Division 4 title in 1976 were the inspiration for this cover. Their points total of 74 was and still is a English league record under the 2 points for a win system.

Lincoln City Division 4 Champions 1976

Past Imperfect: The Story of Lincoln City FC

Shrewsbury Town Double Winners 1979

2012-08-03T16:00:00.000+01:00

The Football Philately Dawn Cover Collection
Shrewsbury Town are our next featured team as we take a look back at football events commemorated by Dawn Covers. The cover below was produced on the occasion of the Shrews first ever home match in Division 2. Season 79/80 had been a successful one for the Shropshire club, securing promotion to Division 2 for the first time in their history going up as Champions as well as winning the Welsh Cup.

Shrewsbury Town Double Winners 1979

The Official Shrewsbury Town Quiz Book

Bolton Wanderers Centenary Year 1977

2012-08-02T21:47:00.000+01:00

The Football Philately Dawn Cover Collection
Next up in our series looking at Dawn Football Covers produced through the years is this lovely event cover commemorating the centenary of Bolton Wanderers. Issued on the day they beat local rivals Blackburn Rovers and move to the top of Division 2 (current Championship) the cachet features a lovely design that pays homage to the 1923 White Horse FA Cup Final.

Bolton Wanderers First Ever Wembley FA Cup Winners 1923

Bolton Wanderers: The Complete Record

Reading FC Centenary 1871-1971

2012-08-01T23:17:00.000+01:00

The Football Philately Dawn Cover Collection
A series of posts celebrating the prodigious output of Dawn Covers - who have been producing football event covers for over forty years. First up is this cover produced to commemorate Reading FC's centenary season of 1971.

Reading Football Club Centenary Year 1871 - 1971

The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story

Mexico World Cup 1970 - Czechoslovakia

2012-07-27T03:32:00.000+01:00

Three Czechoslovakian covers featuring the six-value 1970 Mexico World Cup set and nice Aztec-inspired cachets.

The World Cup Finals 1970 - The Last 16

The Football Stamps of Great Britain

2012-04-08T18:58:00.000+01:00

Given that this year the British postal authorities have for the first time ever issued two separate football-themed issues in one year perhaps it is a good time to take a look back at the football stamps issued by the United Kingdom.

Royal Mail Shop

First up here are the two football stamps issued in 2012. The England World Cup winners stamp was part of the House of Windsor minisheet released in February 2012 that commemorated four notable events during the reigns of the various Windsor monarchs. The following month in March another football stamp was issued as part of the Comics set. This featured an image of Roy of the Rovers on the stamp commemorating the Tiger comic. Below it is shown with a lovely first day of issue counter date stamp.

GB - House of Windsor minisheet 2012

GB - Roy of the Rovers - Tiger Comic 2012

So those two stamps above are the latest football-themed stamps issued by Great Britain but what about the others? Surprisingly given that it was Britain that issued the first stamp in 1840, the iconic Penny Black, it wasn't until 1966 that the UK had it's first football stamp. No prizes for guessing that it was the World Cup of 1966 that provided the theme for the first British commemorative football stamps. Of the three stamps that made up the set it is the 4d value that has perhaps become amongst the most iconic football stamps of all time. The stamps were issued in June of 1966 and the 4d value is shown below on a first day cover postmarked Wembley with the cachet showing a scene from the England v Scotland match of 1879. When England won the cup the 4d stamps was hastily reissued in August overprinted with England Winners.

GB 1966 World Cup FDC

GB 1966 England Winners Overprint

It was to be another 22 years before the UK again issued a football stamp. This time it was one stamp amongst a set of four issued in 1988 to commemorate various British sporting organisations. Here it is on a Football League centenary first day cover with a Tottenham Hotspur pictorial postmark. Can you identify the two players shown on the cachet?

GB 1988 Sports - Football League Centenary

Next up in 1996 came a superb set of stamps issued to coincide with the Euro 96 football championships hosted by England. These five stamps each featured an English football legend.

GB Football Legends 1996

In 1999 Bobby Moore was again the subject of a British stamp. This time he was the only footballer featured in the Millennium Series set entitled The Entertainers Tale. He shared the philatelic stage with Freddie Mercury, Charlie Chaplin and .. err .. a Dalek! It's a cracking stamp - the design based on the iconic image from the 1966 World Cup Final as he holds aloft the Jules Rimet trophy in front of the Wembley's twin towers.

GB 1999 Bobby Moore

As we entered the new decade the football stamps started coming thick and fast relative to the time between previous issues. Royal Mail had been banging out various Millennium sets since January 1999 and as we entered the year 2000 these continued apace. The 10th series of the Millennium Projects sets called Body & Bone was issued in October 2000 and featured this stamp showing a football scene from a match at Hampden Park in Glasgow.

GB 2000 Body & Bone Football at Hampden Park

The English national team qualified for the World Cup Finals of 2002 which were jointly hosted by Korea and Japan. For the first time since the 1966 World Cup stamps Royal Mail issued a set to commemorate the finals. Here they are on a matchday cover dated 7th June 2002 the day that England beat Argentina 1-0 thanks to an emphatic penalty kick driven home just before half-time by David Beckham.

GB 2002 World Cup

It was to be another four years before the next football issue but it was well worth the wait with this 2006 set featuring previous winners of the World cup.

GB 2006 World Cup Winners

The final two stamps which are shown below complete this look at the football stamps of the United Kingdom. One of the greatest football folk of all-time was the subject of a stamp in the Eminent Britons set that was issued in 2009. Sir Matt Busby, who needs no introduction I'm sure, was immortalised on a stamp for his services to football.

GB 2009 Sir Matt Busby - Eminent Britons

In 2010 the second series of the 2012 Olympic sets was issued and it contained a stamp that was British philatelic footballing first - the first to feature womens football. It is shown below with a lovely clear socked on the nose cancel.

GB 2010 - Football - 2012 Olympic Games

So that concludes our look at the football stamps of Great Britain. I hope you've enjoyed looking through that lot and if you have then using the buttons below please do share to your favourite social network. Cheers.

A Celebration of Scottish Football with a touch of philatelic mischief

2012-02-22T20:15:00.000Z

I've had an unused British thematic aerogramme entitled A Celebration of Scottish Football sat doing nothing in a shoebox for some time now. When Royal Mail issued the recent House of Windsor minisheet that includes a stamp commemorating England's World Cup win of 1966 the devil on my shoulder encouraged me to make some philatelic mischief.

Further reading on Scottish football ..

Fitba Gallimaufry: Essential and Obscure Facts from the History of Scottish Football

Zambia Africa Cup of Nations Finalists 2012

2012-02-08T21:37:00.000Z

Congratulations Zambia, earlier today 8 February 2012 the Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets) beat Ghana 1-0 in the semi-final of the Africa Cup of Nations to advance to the final for the third time in their history. Maybe this years tournament will be third time lucky as their two previous final appearances in 1974 and 1994 found them finishing as runners-up. To commemorate their achievement in reaching the final we'll take a look back at the football stamps that Zambia has issued.

Zambian Football on eBay

Our previous philatelic post on this years AFCON tournament detailing the first football stamps issued by each of this years participants showed Zambia being a relative late starter in issuing football-themed stamps. It was only in 1980 their first soccer stamp was issued and their haven't been too many issues since. Here's most of them, there's a couple missing from 1998 and 2002, do a google search and if you find a decent image please use the comments to share a link. Cheers.

1980 Moscow Olympics

1984 Los Angeles Olympics

1986 Mexico World Cup First Day Cover

1988 Seoul Olympic Games

1990 Italy World Cup

2002 Korea Japan World Cup

2008 Beijing Olympics

2010 South Africa World Cup

2010 South Africa World First Day Cover

So there we are the football stamps of Zambia. The last two are pretty interesting in that nine countries who are members of the South African Postal Operators Association produced a joint issue to commemorate the first World Cup to be held in Africa. More about that here.

To finish I'll leave you with a rather excellent tidbit of Zambian togga trivia. Did you know that English football legend Bobby Charlton made his last ever appearance as a player against Zambia? But who was it for? Find out here Bobby Charlton v Zambia.

If you've liked this post then please do give it a tweet, a facebook like or Google +1. Use the buttons below. Cheers folks. Stay tuned for the next post in which we'll have a butchers at the stamps issued by Zambia's opponents in the final - the Elephants of the Ivory Coast.

Australia Celebrates Football Fan Culture

2012-02-03T19:17:00.000Z

Many different aspects of football have been commemorated on football stamps. Important international tournaments, centenaries of famous clubs and great footballing legends. Fan culture also features amongst the themes celebrated on football stamps and this Australian stamp from 1987 is probably my all-time favourite. I always try to keep this particular tradition alive whenever I go to the game. It is of course the matchday pie. Tuck in and enjoy ..

Aussie kids enjoying a pie 1987

Africa Cup of Nations - Football Philately Special

2012-01-23T23:08:00.000Z

The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations is now underway so to mark the start of the competition we'll have a look at the first football stamps issued by each of this years participants. To do so is to take a look back at African sporting history and see how sport including football helped forge independent nations free from the yoke of colonialism.

African Football on eBay

Fittingly it was one of this years co-hosts, Equatorial Guinea (as Spanish Guinea), who were the first nation of the sixteen participants to issue a football themed stamp. Commemorating the game of football a 5-value set all of the same design but in different colours was issued in 1955. The green 10 Peseta value is shown below on a first day cover postmarked in the capital Santa Isabel with a rather striking cachet.

First Day Cover - Spanish Guinea 1955

Next up were Ghana who in 1959 produced a fabulous 5-value set to commemorate a wonderfully obscure West African football tournament called the Kwame Nkrumah Gold Cup,

First Day Cover - Ghana 1959

Sudan issued this colourful set, shown below with a first day Khartoum cancel, to mark the 1960 Olympiad in Rome.

Rome Olympics - Sudan 1960

Both the Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso (as Upper Volta) issued stamp sets in 1961 that featured football alongside other sports, to mark the first African Friendship Games that were held in the former Ivory Coast capital of Abidjan. Niger also issued a sports set to commemorate the Friendship Games, but in 1962. The Games were a multi-sport tournament for the French-speaking African countries and was one of the forerunner tournaments of the current Pan African games.

African Friendship games - Ivory Coast 1961

African Friendship Games - Upper Volta 1961

African Friendship Games - Niger 1962

Co-hosts Gabon issued their first football stamp in 1962 as one of a 3-value general sports set.

Game of Football - Gabon 1962

Mali in 1963 became the first African nation to issue a football stamp that was unconnected to either a sporting tournament or part of a general sports set. Their 4-value Youth Week set included this football stamp.

Youth Week - Football - Mali 1963

The African Friendship Games of 1963 were hosted by Dakar, the capital of Senegal. Again a general sports set was issued that included the rather fine football stamp shown below. Only a day into the Games the organisers met with other African nations and founded the Pan African or All Africa Games and awarded the first games in 1965 to Brazzaville, Congo.

African Friendship Games - Senegal 1963

Libya produced this rather uninspiring 6-value multicoloured sporting set to mark the 1964 Tokyo Olympiad.

Tokyo Olympics - Libya 1964

In 1966 Guinea commemorated the 20th anniversary of UNICEF by issuing a 7-value set of childrens drawings. The 25f value featured a footballer.

20th anniversary of UNICEF - Football - Guinea 1966

The Mediterranean Games were first held in 1951 hosted by Alexandria, Egypt. In 1967 the games came to Tunisia who issued this stamp depicting the then newly built Stade El Menzah. The stadium was to later host the Africa Cup of Nations Final in 1994.

Mediterranean Games Tunis - Tunisia 1967

Morocco issued an Olympic set in 1968 to commemorate the Mexico City Olympiad. Again as was common with general sports sets one of the stamps featured football. It is shown below on a first day cover cancelled in the capital Rabat.

Mexico Olympics - Morocco 1968

This one surprised me. Zambia were relative latecomers when it came to issuing a football stamp. One featured in this 1980 Olympic set issued to mark the Moscow Olympiad.

Add caption

In 1981 Luanda, capital of Angola was chosen to host the second edition of the Central African Games. The hosts finished fourth in the football tournament that was won by Zaire.

Central Africa Games - Angola 1981

Finally but not least we come to Botswana who first issued a football stamp in 1990. Bizarrely it was part of a Road safety set and featured children having a kickabout running out in front of a car.

Road safety - Botswana 1990

Phew so there we have it, that took some doing. The sixteen participants of this years Africa Cup of Nations and the first football stamps they issued. If you've enjoyed this post then please do take a few seconds to click the facebook like or Google +1 buttons or share on you favourite social network. Cheers.

2012 Africa Cup of Nations - Draw and Fixture List

British Locals - Bernera Football Stamps

2012-01-03T20:08:00.001Z

The Bernera Islands consisting of Great Bernera and Little Bernera are Scottish islands that lie off the north-west coast of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. The Laird of the Islands maintains a local postal service and on occasion various issues are made available for tourists to purchase. The stamps which usually cost double that of normal United Kingdom postage rates have no postal validity within the UK. Mailed items from Bernera are required to have normal UK stamps affixed to enable transit within the UK.

Bernera Stamps on eBay

In 1994 Bernera, along with other local postal services in the UK issued a set of stamps commemorating great moments in the history of the FA Cup. Six stamps were produced along with two souvenir sheets.

Blackburn Rovers 1928 and Arsenal 1993

Portsmouth 1939 and FA Cup Final 1923

Ryan Giggs 1994 and Lawrie Sanchez 1988

Spurs v Burnley 1962: Danny Blanchflower

Blackpool FA Cup Winners 1953

British Pathe Presents the FA Cup Finals

Red, White and Khaki: The Story of the Only Wartime Cup Final

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Stade Louis II Monaco - A Philatelic History

2012-01-02T21:52:00.000Z

There have been two stadiums in Monaco with the name Stade Louis II. The first one, built in 1939, had surely one of the most visually appealing aspects in all of football, sat alongside the Mediterranean and underneath the looming hulk of the Rock of Monaco, it was officially inaugurated on 24 April 1939 and a stamp was issued to commemorate the event. The example below is postmarked Monaco-Ville, one of Monaco's traditional quarters and is the district that sits atop the Rock overlooking the stadium.

The Stade Louis II became the home of football's AS Monaco but also hosted other sporting events. It featured on more stamps issued in 1939 when the same shot was used on the 5-value University games set. Here they all on one cover again with a Monaco-Ville postmark.

The Stade Louis was to appear on more Monegasque stamps. It featured on one of the 1952 Helsinki Olympic games set and in 1963 one stamp depicting the stadium was part of a wonderful set issued to commemorate the Centenary of the Football Association. The stamps from this set were adeptly marketed and many philatelic items were produced. For example there are lots of different first day covers available all with different cachets and arrangements of the stamps. One example of the Stade Louis stamp on FDC can be seen at the link above whilst two more are shown below. The Stade Louis stamp from this set featured the club crest of AS Monaco and was overprinted with Championnat 1962-1963 Coupe de France to honour Monaco's league and cup double of that season.

In the early 1980s it was decided to build a new Stade Louis II. The site chosen for the new stadium was on land reclaimed from the sea in the Fontvielle district not far from the old ground. Two stamps were issued during the construction, one in 1982 and another in 1983 and when, in 1985 the ground was officially opened two more were issued.

A two part modern architecture set was issued in 1987 with one of the stamps featuring an aerial shot of the stadium. The FDC below has a striking cachet showing the stadium's arches albeit only four of the nine it actually has are used in the illustration.

Next up are a couple of stamps celebrating the success of AS Monaco. The club became French Champions for the sixth time in 1997 and this was commemorated with a stamp showing the club crest, the Stade Louis and a football with a map of Western Europe.

The red and white diamond background (fusily argent and gules) represents the heraldic colours of the House of Grimaldi which rules Monaco. This explains the date range shown in the right hand tab. 1297 is when the House of Grimaldi first took possession of Monaco making the AS Monaco title triumph of 1997 a rather nice 700th birthday present for the Principality.

AS Monaco were honoured with another stamp in 2000 when they again won the French title. This time only the iconoc nine arches of the stadium were present on the stamp. Finally to conclude our short philatelic history of the Stade Louis II we finish with the stamp that was issued in 2005 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the new stadium.

Further reading on Monaco ...

Grand Prix Automobile De Monaco Posters - The Complete Collection: The Art, the Artists and the Competition

Secrets of the Seven Smallest States of Europe: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City

The Football Stamps of Germany Part 2 - Fußball-Briefmarken aus Deutschland

2011-12-30T22:20:00.002Z

Here's the second of our three part series on the football stamps of Germany. Our first look at German football stamps featured issues prior to German unity of 1990. In this article we're going to have a look at stamps issued since 1990 that commemorate achievements and milestones in German football history.

We'll start with current German champions Borussia Dortmund who won their first Bundesliga title in 1995 and then retained in 1996. Each title was commemorated with a stamp issue. Incidentally it was a Dortmund player, Friedhelm Konietzka, who scored the Bundesliga's first goal in the first minute of the game against Werder Bremen on 24 August 1963.

Sepp Herberger helped give Germany her pride back in the post-war years. He was the national team coach who led his players into the 1954 World Cup Final. Their opponents Hungary, as invincible as any national football team has been then or since, were odds-on favourites to win but Herberger pulled off a tactical master stroke to engineer a 3-2 victory. The match became famous as the Miracle of Bern and Sepp Herberger, 'The Chief' a national hero. He was immortalised on a stamp in 1997 to commemorate 100 years since his birth. Here it is with the special 100 years postmark and below it a cover produced to celebrate his 80th birthday in 1977 with one of the 1974 World Cup stamps and postmarked with his Mannheim birthplace.

The German football champions of 1997, 1998 and 1999 were each rewarded with a stamp. Bayern Munich for 1997 and 1999, and 1. FC Kaiserslautern for their 1998 title triumph which was unique in Bundesliga history. FCK were relegated to 2. Bundesliga in 1996, won promotion back to the Bundesliga in 1997 and immediately went on to win the national championship in 1998.

In 2000 a special stamp was issued to celebrate the centenary of the German Football Association. The Deutscher Fußball-Bund or DFB was founded in 1900 and is the largest single sports federation in the World. Eight years later another milestone in German football history was commemorated with a stamp. 100 years of German football international games, the first being in 1908 against the Swiss.

That concludes our second look at the football stamps of Germany. I hope you enjoyed that if you did then please show your appreciation by using the share buttons below. Stay tuned for Part 3 which will be with you in the next week or so.

Tor! The Story of German Football

Italian Football Federation and Il Grande Torino

2011-12-21T20:26:00.004Z

Some recent additions to my collection have a very Italian theme. First up is an FDC of the 1973 Italian issue that commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Italian Football Federation which was founded in Turin on 15th March 1898. The L.25 value is beautiful in it's simplicity whilst the L.90 value with it's cartoon characters was I think the result of a children's competition.

Given that the FIGC was founded in Turin it is perhaps fitting that the next two items should commemorate Il Grande Torino. The AC Torino team of the 1940's is one of the greatest teams in Italian football history. A devastating air crash wiped them out in 1949 and 50 years on in 1999 Poste italiane issued two stamps to remember Turin's and Italy's tragic loss. Here they are as first day issues on maxicards.

The Football Stamps of Germany Part 1 - Fußball-Briefmarken aus Deutschland

2011-12-20T20:22:00.000Z

As you would expect from a football-crazy country like Germany there have been many issues commemorating the great game. Surprisingly though most of these have been issued since German unity in 1990. The first part of our look at German football stamps focuses on stamps issued prior to reunification. There is one issue by the German Reich, three by the German Democratic Republic and three by the Federal Republic of Germany.

The first German football stamp to feature a football theme was issued as one of a four-part set to commemorate the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936.

Twenty years later the second German stamp to show a footballing scene was issued by the East German postal authorities. It was one of a set of four issued to commemorate the second German Gymnastic and Sports Festival (Turn- und Sportfest der DDR) held in Leipzig 1956.

In 1963 another East German football stamp was issued. This featured the German communist and anti-fascist resistance fighter Heinz Steyer. This was one of a set of five issued to remember sportsmen who had been victims of the Nazis and was in aid of the Concentration Camps Memorial Fund. Steyer played football for Rotsport and dedicated his life to fighting the Nazis. He served time in both prisons and concentration camps. In 1943 he was forcibly conscripted into the Criminal Division 999 (Strafdivision 999) of the Wehrmacht and sent to Greece. Here he worked from within the German Army aiding the Greek partisans supplying them with information and weapons to facilitate their resistance. He was arrested by the Nazis in 1944 and executed. The Heinz-Steyer Stadion in Dresden bears his name.

Five years later the East Germans issued another stamp featured a footballer. This was part of the 1968 Mexico Olympics set and was the last football stamp to be issued by the GDR.

The West German Bundespost issued a couple of stamps for the 1974 World Cup. A football design was included in the 1980 three-value sport set and in 1988 an awful three-part set was issued to jointly commemorate the Seoul Olympics and the UEFA 1988 Euro tournament. Maybe the designers of these three stamps were trying to imitate what watching sport was like after overdoing it at the Oktoberfest. Whatever the reason this was the last German football stamp issued prior to the events of die Wende in 1990.

So that concludes our first look at the football stamps of Germany. Parts 2 and 3 will be up in the next couple of weeks and will feature football stamps issued by a re-united Germany.

The Football Stamps of Germany Part 2

Tor! The Story of German Football

FLN Algeria - 50 year anniversary 2008

2011-12-14T19:49:00.000Z

In 2008 the Algerian postal authorities issued a souvenir sheet to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the creation of a national football team to represent the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN). The FLN was the Algerian pro-independence movement that was set up to fight and end French colonial rule in Algeria. Many Algerian footballers playing in France left their clubs to return home and represent their country. You can read more about the FLN and the impact the team had in the Algerian battle against the French in this wonderful article ..

France, The Front Liberation Nationale and Football

Algeria on Amazon: Books, Film and Travel

First footballer on a stamp - Hungary 1925

2011-12-14T03:34:00.000Z

In a previous post about the football stamps of the Netherlands I wrote about the Dutch Olympiad set of 1928 which includes a stamp showing an image of a footballer. At the time I believed this was the first stamp in the World to be issued that featured an image of someone playing football. This was a view shared by writer Hunter Davies who wrote an article about football stamps for the June 2010 edition of the British Philatelic Bulletin. Incidentally this blog gets a name check as part of that feature on football stamps of the World. Oh yeah baby.

Anyway I digress. A couple of months later in September 2010 the British Philatelic Bulletin published a letter from Bryan Horsnell of the Football Postcard Collectors Club. He points out that there was an earlier stamp featuring a footballer and that it was issued by Hungary in 1925. It was one of eight issued to raise funds for sports clubs in Hungary, a so-called semi-postal or charity stamp.

An additional fee or surcharge was raised against the face value of each stamp in the set and the proceeds donated to various Hungarian sports groups. In this case the surcharge was 100% of the face value making the stamps, at the time the most expensive set ever sold in Hungary. Let's hope they raised plenty of money.

It's worth mentioning that Hungary won nine medals including four golds at the 1928 Summer Olympics. The first time they'd won any Olympic medals since the games of 1912. Whether this has any connection to the sale of these stamps and the money flowing into Hungarian sport courtesy of the surcharge I do not know, but it would be nice to think it did.

The stamp oh yes, here it is along with the other seven in the set. Ladies and gentlemen I present for your philatelic pleasure the World's first stamp to feature a footballer. There it is on the right - a goalkeeper leaping to catch a high ball. Thank you Hungary.

Please note this is not the World's first football stamp. That honour goes to Uruguay. Thanks for reading.

Hungary on Amazon: Books, Film & Travel

Football Philately - Football Stamp Blog Par Excellence

2011-12-13T21:34:00.001Z

Hello stamp geeks. This blog is back in action and fingers crossed there won't be no more lengthy absences. You've probably noticed - or maybe not - that the name's been changed. The new name is Football Philately and there's a posh dot com domain name too. It's simply stamptastic folks.

We're gonna celebrate the relaunch of the blog with some nice bright colours. The 1958 World Cup in Sweden has previously been covered here on Football Philately so to add to that we've got a couple of lovely philatelic items issued to commemorate the tournament. First up is the official 1958 World Cup FDC with a gorgeous cachet showing a footballer in the Sweden national team colours. Followed by a stamped postcard showing a scene from a football game in Malmo, one of the host cities. Enjoy.

If you like your philately and fancy picking up a bargain or finding that scare item you've been after for ages then be sure to check out Delcampe: a true collectors paradise. I've got myself a Delcampe store. Check it out. Cheers.

Czechoslovakian Registered Cover from 1962

2010-11-26T21:46:00.001Z

My first blog post for sometime here on Footyphila and I've got a beautiful cover to share with you all. It satisfies my inner stamp collecting nerd like you've never known. Why? Well it's registered for starters and I do like examples of my main thematic interests on a nice registered cover. It's Czechoslovakian and I have love of this countries stamps from the fifties and sixties because the designs are fabulous and so intricate. There also very cheap, which is good because there's loads of 'em knocking about but this one particular cover caught my eye and when I saw it I just had to have it. I needed it, I craved and coveted it and for the princely sum of two English pounds it was mine.

What I here you ask is so special about this cover. Well, it's the stamps that are on it. All five of them fall into my main three areas of thematic interest which are football, the Eastern Bloc Spartakiad events & Vostok or space-themed stamps issued by Eastern Bloc countries during the fifties & sixties.

Here it is, a beauty I'm sure you will all agree ..

The stamps from left to right: The 1Kcs stamp from the 1962 5-value Space Research set that shows a robotic lunar lander, the green & yellow single that was issued in June 1962 to commemorate the World Cup in Chile and the 3 stamps that make up the Spartacist Games set issued in July 1962.

I'm very happy to have this in my collection ... but .. where do I put it? Do I keep it within my Vostok & Space-themed collection, put it with other Spartakiad items, include it amongst all my other football stuff or give it pride of place within my collection of Czechoslovakian covers? Decisions, decisions.

Antwerp Summer Olympics of 1920

2010-07-28T17:51:00.005+01:00

The Summer Olympics of 1920 were the first following the end of World War 1. The games had originally been awarded to Budapest but in the aftermath of the war the defeated central powers which included Hungary were banned from competing and the games were transferred to Antwerp.

These Olympics were the first in which the Olympic Oath was voiced, the first in which doves were released and the first at which the Olympic flag was flown. These games also saw the oldest Olympic medallist as Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn at the ripe old age of 72 won silver in one of the shooting events.

Three stamps were issued by the Belgian postal authorites to commemorate the games. They were confident the stamps, which are of a fabulous design, would be so succesful and popular that they doubled the initial order of 5 million of each value to 10 million. Unfortunately the stamps didn't prove as popular as they thought and the originals issued in May 1920 only sold between 134000 and 472000 depending on face value. The remaining stamps were surcharged and re-issued in March 1921.

Below you will find each of the original stamps together with it's surcharged cousin. All with lovely socked on the nose cancels. Click an image to enlarge.

Images and stamp information used with the kind permission of Stampboards member joelk. You can see more of his images and those of other board members in this thread - Show us your 'Bullseye' - or 'socked on the nose cancels'

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London 2012 Olympics - First Day Covers

2010-07-27T18:20:00.001+01:00

Following on from the previous post about todays London Olympic and Paralympic stamp issue here's a selection of covers I've made up for my own collection. I've used some Soviet postal stationery items themed to each of the stamps and have got lovely first day of issue socked on the nose cancels on eight of the nine. The only one missing is the taekwondo stamp because I've used that to send a letter.

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Great Britain - The Olympic and Paralympic Games 2010 Stamp Issue

2010-07-27T14:28:00.004+01:00

Today 27th July 2010 a new set of stamps commemorating the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games have been issued by Royal Mail. There are ten stamps in the set each one featuring a different sport. Rowing, Shooting, Modern Pentathlon, Taekwondo, Cycling, Table Tennis, Hockey, Football, Goalball and Boxing.

Here's the presentation pack. You can buy it from the Royal Mail Online Shop

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The Football Stamps of Spain - Los sellos de fútbol de España

2010-07-10T20:56:00.004+01:00

Following on from yesterdays post featuring the football soccer stamps of the Netherlands today it's the turn of fellow 2010 World Cup finalists Spain. The first Spanish stamps to feature a football theme were released in 1960 as part of a 12-value set commemorating various sports.

Spanish Philately on eBay

Espana 1960 Futbol

It was to be another 19 years before another Spanish stamp featured football. A 3-value sport for all set was issued in 1979 and one of the stamps showed a child playing football.

Espana 1979 Deporte Para Todos

The Spanish had been chosen as hosts of the 1982 World Cup way back in 1966 and a number of World Cup sets were issued between 1980 and 1982. It wasn't a particularly successful tournament for the hosts. They qualified for the second group stage but only as runners-up to Northern Ireland in their first round group. There tournament ended at the second round stage as they finished bottom of their second round group behind West Germany and England.

Espana 1980 Copa Mundial de Futbol

Espana 1981 Copa Mundia de Futbol - First Day Cover

Espana 1982 Copa Mundial de Futbol - First Day Cover

Espana 1982 Copa Mundial de Futbol - Souvenir Sheet

Spain was to host another global sporting event in 1992. The Summer Olympics roadshow came to town as Barcelona was chosen as the host city. In 1989 a pre-Olympics set of 3-values was issued and it included one with a football theme.

Espana 1989 Barcelona '92 Futbol

Another Olympics issue in 1994 commemorated the 100th anniversary of the International Olympic Committee. It was a souvenir sheet that featured the Spanish gold medal winners from the Barcelona games. One of which was the Spanish football team who had won the football gold medal by beating Poland 3-2 in the final.

Espana 1994 Centenario del COI - Souvenir Sheet

From 1999 a number of stamps were issued to celebrate the centenaries of various Spanish clubs. These included Barcelona in 1999, Espanyol in 2000, Real Madrid in 2002 and Atletico Madrid in 2003, Deportivo in 2006, Real Betis in 2007 and Real Sociedad in 2009. Here's the Barcelona and Espanyol stamps.

Spain won the European Championships in 2008 and a special souvenir sheet was issued featuring the winning squad. A fitting victory perhaps given that the Royal Spanish Football Federation celebrated it's centenary in 2009.

Espana 2008 European Champions - Souvenir Sheet

Espana 2009 Real Federacion Espanola de Futbol - First Day Cover

Who knows maybe the Spanish Postal authorities have got another issue up their sleeves waiting just in case the national team win this years World Cup. We will have to wait and see. Good luck Spain.

Recommended reading - Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football

Football Stamps of the Netherlands - Voetbal postzegels van Nederland

2010-07-09T22:20:00.008+01:00

It's the World Cup Final this coming Sunday between Holland and Spain and to celebrate this Footyphila will take a look at a selection of the football-related stamp issues of both countries. First up is Holland or more correctly the Netherlands.

Uruguay in 1924 had been the first country in the World to issue football-related stamps. However they featured an image of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, an ancient Greek sculpture. An actual footballing image didn't appear on any postage stamp until the Dutch Postal Authorities issued a set to commemorate the 1928 Summer Olympics. Hosted in Amsterdam The Olympic Flame was reintroduced to the modern Olympic movement at the 1928 games so along with this honour the Netherlands can also lay claim to issuing the World's first 'proper' football stamp. Here it is along with the other seven values that made up the set.

Nederland 1928 IX Summer Olympiade

Amazingly it would be another forty-six years before the Netherlands issued another football stamp and it must be said the 1974 commemorative World Cup issue was a pretty uninspiring effort. However the Total Football the Dutch played during the tournament was far from uninspiring and in this their first finals tournament since 1938 they played some magnificent football to reach the final. It all went a bit pear-shaped for them though for despite taking a first minute lead against the hosts they lost 2-1.

Nederland 1974 World Cup

A couple of years later in 1976 another football stamp was issued. This one was part of a 3 value semi-postal set featuring childrens drawings.

Nederland 1976 Football Childrens Drawing

Holland were again World Cup finalists in 1978 and again they lost to the host nation. This time 3-1 after extra-time to Argentina. Suprisingly no Dutch stamps were issued for the 1978 World Cup though a year later in 1979 a stamp was issued to commemorate 100 years of football in Holland. The first Dutch football club, Royal Haarlemsche Football Club had been founded in 1879. Much like the 1974 World Cup stamp it was a pretty poor design.

Nederland 1979 100 Years of Dutch Football

The Dutch national football team became European Champions in 1988 but no stamp was issued. Though a year later another Dutch football centenary was commemorated with the issue of a special stamp. The Royal Netherlands Football Association or KNVB (Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond) founded in 1889 celebrated 100 years governing football in Holland.

Nederland 1989 KNVB centenary

In 1994 a garish orange and purple stamp was issued for the World Cup. Held in the United States the stamp proclaims Oranje goes USA! It came with a tab on the right hand side that lists Holland's group fixtures. They topped their group and eventually got knocked out in the quarter-finals to eventual winners Brazil.

Nederland 1994 World Cup

1996 saw the Dutch qualify for Euro 96 and the stamp issued for this event is for me , with the exception of the 1928 stamp the nicest Dutch football stamp issued. It features a nice aerial shot of Wembley Stadium and the Twin Towers. Of course this was where the Netherlands lost to England 4-1 in their group fixture. Despite this heavy defeat they still qualified for the knock out stages and lost in the quarter-finals on penalties to the French.

Nederland 1996 European Championships

I don't know what the Dutch postal authorities were thinking when they issued this stamp to commemorate the 1998 World Cup finals. It does however have a certain charm to it. As for the team they reached the semi-final and lost on penalties to Brazil.

Nederland 1998 World Cup

Euro 2000 was jointly hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium. The Dutch national team reached the semi-finals and again lost out on penalties, this time to Italy. The tournament prompted a joint issue by the postal authorities of both countries. Here's the Dutch version.

Nederland 2000 European Championships

That concludes our philatelic journey through the football issues of the Netherlands. Depending on the result of Sunday's game there may well be another Dutch football stamp to add to the list. Good luck Holland.

The Football Stamps of Spain

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Unusual Austrian Football Stamps

2010-07-02T23:58:00.003+01:00

Austria went football crazy when they were picked to co-host the 2008 UEFA European Football Championships. The Austrian Post Office was one of the national sponsors of what was the largest sporting event ever held in Austria. They pulled out all the stops to produce a series of both unusual and memorable stamps to commemorate Euro 2008 that delighted philatelists and football fans the world over.

The first stroke of design brilliance was to produce a stamp that looked like a football, not only that it was a football! Each self adhesive stamp was made from the same synthetic material as the tournament's offical EUROPASS match ball. The makers Adidas said that the sophisticated design of the ball's outer skin guaranteed optimum grip between ball and boot. Unfortunately the same could not be said for the stamp. Upon it's release in March 2008 many wouldn't stick to envelopes or fell off in transit. But still a lovely stamp, here it is in all it's glory.

The Austrian Post Office weren't finished with their unusual stamps. But how could they top a football stamp made from a football? Well they did, they put a clip of a football match on a stamp. Using lenticular technology a stamp was produced featuring a 3-second clip of Andi Herzog scoring an important goal for the Austrian national team. Shown below is the stamp on a first day cover, a mock up of the stamp with footage of the goal and a video of the actual goal itself. Read more about this amazing stamp here.

Austrian Post released one more unusual football-themed item. This was a minisheet featuring an image of the Henri Delaunay Cup flanked by four Swarovski crystals. Here it is on a first day cover.

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