Monday, February 18, 2013

UK’s Football Heroes



The Royal Mail is issuing a set of stamps featuring some of the UK’s biggest soccer heroes to mark the 150th anniversary of Association Football rules being established.
The first class stamps, Football Heroes, show the stars in their home country’s strip, including John Charles (Wales), Denis Law (Scotland), George Best (Northern Ireland) and Jimmy Greaves (England).
The stamps were illustrated by artist Andrew Kinsman.
Andrew Hammond of Royal Mail said: “The stamps celebrate heroes of the beautiful game who excelled on the pitch at club and national level and are rightly considered icons of the sport.’’
Sir Trevor Brooking, FA director of football development, said: “It is fantastic that that Royal Mail has honoured a whole team of these heroes from across the United Kingdom.’’
The other stamps feature Gordon Banks, John Barnes, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan, Bobby Moore, Bryan Robson (all England), and Dave Mackay (Scotland).

Sunday, February 17, 2013

UAE stamps feature football Gulf Cup winners 2013


 
Stamps featuring the victorious UAE football team and coach after their historic Gulf Cup win have been issued by Emirates Post.
The commemorative stamps — in a single Dh2 denomination and a Dh6 souvenir sheet — have been issued in association with the UAE Football Association and under the sponsorship of Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries (Julphar).
The UAE witnessed sweeping celebrations following the win in Bahrain, which bought the cup home. The UAE national football won this prestigious tournament for the second time in its history.
The stamps also feature a portrait of UAE coach Mahdi Ali who has been responsible for taking the team to new heights, Emirates Post said in a statement.
The Gulf Cup Championship, held once in two years, has developed into one of the biggest football tournaments in the region, after modest beginnings in 1970 in Bahrain.
The Gulf Cup was launched in 1968 during the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico. The countries that took part in the inaugural tournament in 1970 were Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The 21st Gulf Cup, held in Bahrain’s capital, Manama, attracted a large number of spectators and soccer fans from across the region.