So it’s finally complete... the League of Blogs Wallchart has had its final (final) FINAL space filled, so let’s all take a moment to reflect on what has been a rather extraordinary journey...
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| The Completed League of Blogs Wallchart |
The Journey:
This excellent post by Chris got me thinking about my own years as an amateur kit designer and I suggested we design a kit for our blog. Chris agreed and I set about creating what now occupies spaces 1 and 2 on the wallchart. Happy with our newly acquired couture, Chris had a brainwave... we couldn’t be the only ones out there who loved kit design and there’s rather a lot of football bloggers out there... and what do most football bloggers also love? Subbuteo!
Chris put together the Subbuteo kit template and the first version of the wallchart with space for what we believed to be a rather optimistic 20 kits, and we were off.
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| The original style wallchart |
The brilliant @AndrewCHarding (andrewcharding) was the first blog to sign up with his design neatly representing his polka dot-based football artwork.
He was soon joined by @NelsonsColumn (nelsonscolumn.org) and serial LoB retweeter, @AlGordonCAFC (algordoncafc.blogspot.com) and from there it began to grow steadily.
Very soon, it became clear we were going to hit that golden 20 mark, so the wallchart was extended to 25 spots (and reformatted to a Tescophoto poster friendly 16x20 ratio).
Within a week it was obvious this too was not going to be enough and the halved format of the wallchart brought with it a set of limitations we’d never thought feasible. To that end, I took the decision to redraw the whole thing, taking inspiration from
this particular Subbuteo wallchart and going for a portrait style poster.
And so the new format was born...
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| Ooooh portraity! |
As the wallchart was now gathering popularity, it was more than doubled to hold 60 kits! The excitement was tempered with a sense of tempting fate. Could we really fill another 35 spaces? Well we all know the answer to that...
It was then we entered what I like to call the' rapid response insomnia phase' of the wallchart’s life span. This was the period where I’d become the default updater of the chart and was generally adding new kits every day - usually within the hour. I was also spending far too many late nights working on it, especially when knocking up a design for those without the necessary tools for the job. To say it was a labour of love is a huge understatement, and despite a slight sense of dread each time it became obvious I’d have to extend it again, how could I not be ecstatic to be in that situation? I think the latest I worked one night was about 3.30am, but I was happy in my work.
Seventy spaces were filled, then 80... then crunch time. Interest was slowing down and it had to come to an end at some point...especially as I’d now added “2012” to the chart... Yes we’re doing it all again next year folks (he said, before slowly backing away from the baying mob).
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| Llandudnojetset H |
And so the final figure of 92 was decided upon, nicely tallying with the number of Football League clubs and also one that fitted format of the chart without cramming them all in.
On the 20th May 2012, that 92nd spot was requested by @Llandudnojetset and the Football Attic League of Blogs Wallchart was complete... alas, due to there being only one slot left, we couldn’t feature both of their kits, so they asked for the away to go on the chart, and we therefore present the home kit here... a fine set of outfits!
Conclusions
I can honestly say this has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. To have been a part of something that united a total of 63 different blogs was just astounding and so much bigger than we ever imagined! But of course, at the risk of sounding like a cliche, this genuinely would have been nothing without all of you who contributed so we'd both like to say a huge thanks to all who were involved and an extra special thanks to all those who retweeted / spread the word and helped this become what it has.
Merch
Early on in this project, the idea of creating a real-world, physical copy of the wallchart was considered, and it’s still being considered and something we very much want to do. We’ll look into how this can be done and the costs involved and anything we do will be at cost.
Also along the way, in a rush of Panini love, I created sticker versions of the first batch of kits. I then bought some proper sticker paper and made them for real, and even though I say so myself, they look bloody awesome!
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| So so beautiful... |
These will be a lot easier to produce as we can do them ourselves... just need some time to create the actual artwork for them all.
In order to work out how to pursue the above, anyone who’s interested in purchasing either, please let us know a.s.a.p. as the more interest we get, the cheaper it’ll be.
And with that, I shall go back to writing stuff about old FIFA films and other nostalgia...
Coming soon...
League of Blogs: "The Gallery"-style video...
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