MAGAZINES

CLOTHES SHOES MUSIC BOOKS SPORT TV FILMS

The Frozen Northerner spends an awful lot of money on magazines, (The Contessa would say waste, rather than spend) it started back in the sixties and has endured to this day. This obsession has now led to me to “The Blizzard” a quarterly publication, on football. Although I have known about this magazine for quite some time, I have never felt the urge to buy it. Maybe I was put off by the fact that “The Blizzard” is the brainchild of much admired football correspondent, Johnathan Wilson, who was not only born and bred in Sunderland, but, also has the impudence to name his publication after a long forgotten Sunderland periodical. This, aligned to fact that the venerable Mr Wilson is also a diehard fan of the Wearsiders is making me nervous( The Frozen Northerner is always wary of people than live south of the Tyne and north of the Tweed).

Nevertheless ,despite these shortcomings, Mr Wilson’s little books are nothing short of sheer brilliance. I would suspect that his circulation is not that high, mainly because this is not some flashy glossy magazine filled with stories of non-descript superstars, oh no, this serious stuff dealing with real issues within a game that is highly corrupt (he should send Jaimie Carragher a few copies, but, then again he might have to get Gary Neville to read them out to him).

All of the articles, which, are drafted by guest contributors are superb, there a few that will take you down memory lane, rekindling memories of players and managers that were way better than any of the crap that is on offer today. Alternatively there is also a raft of items on the ever increasing rise of corruption within the game, which, sadly is showing no sign of abating, The “Blizzard” really has it all and I to say that am in total awe of the superb writing, from all of the reporters. If you are serious about the world of football, then you must (like me) start subscribing to this brilliant quarterly, because, it will change your outlook on football forever.

MAGAZINES (1)

CLOTHES SHOES MUSIC BOOKS SPORT FILMS

In 1969 Marshall Cavendish Publications brought out a magazine called the “The Game”.Basically, the magazine was an A to Z encyclopaedia of sport, but for The Frozen Northerner it was a life changing experience.

For sports mad teenagers of that era, sport magazines were at a premium, of course there was Charlie Buchan’s Football Monthly but apart from that brilliant publication, there was precious little else.

What prompted me to start to buying  “The Game” well, for some unfathomable reason I seem to recall that it was rather well publicised on the TV at that particular time. Maybe it was the price, an  extortionate 4 shillings, ( that’s a whopping 20p in modern terms) because believe you me there weren’t too many kids in my circle of friends that was going to pay that.

4 bob was a  considerable amount of money in 1969 a full quarter of my paper round money and with 126 issues +binders, this was going be a major investment if I was to stay the course, which, as my ever critical father happily pointed out I had no chance of doing.

Mmm, where is this going to go I asked myself, but once I had picked up the first edition it was a no brainer.On the cover was a photo of one of Northumberland’s favourite sons, Jack Charlton, on his knees with his hands clutching his face after England’s victory over West Germany in the 1966 World Cup Final.

I was a gonna, salivating momentarily over big Jack I turned to the first page to be greeted by a photograph of  Abele Bikla, the-first man to win the Olympic Marathon title twice.

That picture which showed him breaking the tape at end of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics blew me away. Resplendent in his black vest, red shorts and white running shoes, Bikila looked sensational.wow, the supporting text outlined his career and told me all I needed to know about the great Ethiopian.

By the time I got to the back of the magazine ( which by the way featured article on Mohammed Ali) my head was spinning.Life definitely would never be the same, here I could find out about athletes from a bygone time, men and women that paved the way for others.

These were athletes with imagination and creativity, people that were ahead of their time in their respective sports, people that would change the face of sport forever. Every week I waited in anticipation of what the next edition would bring, my God, how much  knowledge could I take in, but, rest assured I was going to have a bloody good try.

When I should have been spending time studying to get a half decent job, I was spending my time finding out about sportsmen & woman from all around the world. Boxers like Harry Greb, Footballers like Giuseppe Meazza, Tennis players like Jaroslav Drobny and the teams, oh my god the teams  The Boston Celtics, Hawke’s Bay, Santos, the lists were endless and I soaked up the information like a sponge.

Needless to say my exam results were more than slightly disappointing, sentencing me to years of toil and sweat, at that bastion of heavy engineering, Swan  Hunter’s shipyard. Truth be told I didn’t really care, I had all that I wanted and that was sporting knowledge. It may seem rather trivial but those 126 magazines did have strange effect on me. Sport did change my life and not always in a good way. But the joy of it is that when I get a bit down I can always retreat to my loft, pick out any issue and droll over sporting heroes from a bygone time. There is no better feeling.