We will be giving one winner a pair of tickets to today’s (May 15th) Philadelphia Union match against the LA Galaxy at PPL Park. To enter the contest, simply tweet us (@LBFutbol) or comment this thread on Facebook with the answer to this question:
How many domestic league titles have been won by the four ‘rebels’ in our upcoming summer collection?
Watch the video below if you’re stumped on who the four rebels are!!
Tweet your response to @LBFutbol!
Our new 40 Years of Rebellion
Part of what makes us who we are is that we love getting the LBF Squad involved in the process of making our products. We often post behind-the-scenes photos and sketches of ideas to get feedback. Back in February, we asked for your input on the snapback cap design and we took it seriously. With the new collection on the horizon, here are some photos of the hats in production.
The hats are placed on the embroidery machine, but first a piece of foam is sealed to the surface of the cap. Once the foam is on, the stitching goes over the foam. This is what gives the final embroidery a 3-dimensional look. The remaining foam is carefully removed and discarded afterwards.
The final products. There are two versions of The Header cap: an all black (general release) and the red-brimmed caps are limited to only 20 pieces.
The Header, as well as 8 other pieces, launches in the 40 Years of Rebellion collection in a few weeks. We’re ready, are you?
Live Breathe Futbol!
Today is Johannes Cruijff’s 66th birthday. We’ve made phone wallpapers for the Cruijff fans out there. You can download them below:
Editor’s Note: This is the 3rd and final piece in our “Rebels” series by Travis.
“If I’d been born ugly, you’d never have heard of Pelé.”
Handsome, charming, quick, tricky and a true number Seven. No one could deny the genius that was George Best, a man who lived life the same on the pitch as he did outside of it. While he hated misses on the pitch, he spent most of his time with them away from it. Whether destroying Benfica in European finals or his liver in pubs, he lived each moment as if it was his last, a true rebel to the societal view of meekness and conformity.
A winger first, who could play with both feet –though initially right-footed—on either side, who became a player who could operate anywhere from midfield and above. One that could easily out-jump taller defenders, dribble his way out of any situation and finish from any angle, no matter how impossible. He was a rebel, not only in his attitude on how he lived his life unapologetically and voiced his candid opinions without regret but also because he seemed so perfect on the field.
Only in a few video games would one be able to create a player with every desired attribute of players and managers. And only in dreams, could anyone conjure up such a personal life filled with alcohol, women and front page appearances. We all dream of it, George Best lived it.
The dream of living as you wish: whether it be growing heavy sideburns and a moustache or bedding miss Universe, few have the courage to go after what they want as Best did and few ever will. Though his football should always be more emphasized, the success would not have been possible were it not for his general attitude, grabbing life by its horns and seducing it into submission the same way he seduced a man’s wife upstairs at a hotel while his mates reportedly got the man drunk.
As they say though, genius itself is a burden. After the retirement of Busby, Best became the center of his team, a responsibility that he admitted led him to heavier drinking. He became increasingly more short-tempered on the field, which led to red cards that led to not reporting to training then more drinking then more fines, the thought of not being able to win or compete also drove him closer to the bottle. The pressure of being the focus of the team, of dragging them by his own hand, of his genius had become too much for the pint-sized golden boy.
For all of his problems, there has never been another footballer that combined his on-field genius with his off-field celebrity as well as Best. The few that have come close are constantly trying to apologize and pander to their detractors, to be sorry for who they are, Best never lived like that. He knew who he was, what he wanted, and he lived everyday like he could lose all of it the next day.
As Bob Bishop once told Matt Busby when he first discovered Best, “Boss, I think I’ve found you a genius”. He also found a legend that day.
Travis writes for Surreal Football . You can follow him on twitter @Zitov2
**Editor’s note: This is the first of three pieces by Travis for our upcoming collection entitled: 40 Years of Rebellion.**
In his book “I am Zlatan”, the enormous Swede details on his hard upbringing in Malmo, partially economic, partially his tough father. In the beginning of the book, he talks about his family life and the type of environment it was, stating “we didn’t run around hugging each other. No one asked “How was your day today little Zlatan”, nothing like that.” He goes on to talk about how his father would have sacrificed rent in order for him to play and travel with his current team at the time. All of this gives us an insight to what molded Zlatan into who he is today, but the biggest one to me, is when the big man –talking about his coaching and the way he played as a youngster—gives us his football philosophy, something that has stuck from his youth till now:
“I thought that one should listen to them and learn their stuff, zonal play, tactics and all that. But at the same time not listen. Like still continue with the dribbling and the tricks. Listen, don’t listen!”
A man of his own mind. No conformity, listens, but doesn’t listen. A rebel in the football spectrum that is flooded with hordes of media-trained athletes, always trying to please fans and managers –an impossible task–, scared to be criticized and weary of the spotlight. Zlatan stands tall because rather than shun who he is for acceptance, he became so great that the coaches and the fans were forced to deal with him. Why join them when you can beat them?
Zlatan has admitted that he has picture of his feet framed in his house, a bigger trophy than the numerous ones that he won with various team in different countries. The same feet that he used to run away from his mother’s crying after his sister was doing drugs, the same feet that carried him through the dark tunnels across the Annelunds Bridge where his father was beat up and where he used the lampposts as beacons to get home. “If I run fast enough things will be alright”
A man like Zlatan, who as a youngster had less money than his teammates and rather than feeling sorry for himself constituted that he would be “The kid that didn’t have”, who didn’t let neither his family’s problems, his economic background or his coaches keep him from his dreams is surely not the same arrogant asshole that the media paints him as. More so, he’s a man who thinks for himself, rises to challenges: playing for Barcelona, playing and scoring for both Milan-based teams, beating English teams, going to PSG at the wrong side of 30. A rebel with that amount of self-believe will rise to any challenge.
And since bad boys don’t die, they just multiply.
Mario Balotelli, a teammate of Zlatan at Inter has picked up the mantle as the bad boy rebel of this generation of footballers. A black Italian: orphan of Ghanaian ancestry, and a past just as troubled as Ibra’s. Known for his “wild” antics, he has set bathrooms on fire with fireworks, crashed into a women’s prison, had his car impounded 27 times among many other things. Here’s also a man who lives by his own rules and is good enough that the world has to bend to them.
With his identity being in nature, rebellious to social norms, it is no wonder that his attitude follows. What are social norms to a man willing to break the no touching rule at a strip club? Before him, there were no blacks in the Italian national team and fans at the beginning were all too ready to remind him. But he scored, and he scores, beautiful goal after another, critical and emphatic. During the Euros 2012, it would seem that he had a competition with Zlatan (Who played for AC Milan at the time, Balotelli’s boyhood club, a club which he now plays at. Cassano also played there. Bad boys United) to see who would score the most ridiculous goal: After a cross from the right side, Zlatan executed a perfect sideways bicycle volley, an exclamation mark on their victory over France in the last group game. Not to be outdone, Mario would score an eerily similar goal against Ireland. Side volley, perfect technique but because he is Mario, he had a defender draped over him in contrast to Zlatan’s. The goal not being enough, Mario was prepared to express himself verbally after being derided for his two previous lackluster matches but Bonucci, a smart man, covered his mouth.
His once famous celebration of exposing a shirt underneath his kit that read “Why always me?” is a testament to the world’s obsession with him because we don’t just like rebels, we crave them. So the few that we have, we make them into legends, into myths whether right or wrong. So while he throws darts at youth teams players, we run with those stories, make them bigger, badder, more fire! But still he remains a rebel, a beacon of light in a terribly dull atmosphere of rehearsed answers and actions. So while other players go home and pick mushrooms on their day off, Mario might spend his driving around the city with the top of his car down, high-fiving fans in celebration and Zlatan might show you that he can do with an orange, what John Carew attempts with a ball.
The collection is available here. Travis writes for Surreal Football . You can follow him on twitter @Zitov2
When we talk about football and our heroes, our conversations tend to highlight moments of sheer brilliance and sublime skill. Many players have captured our hearts with a single goal or moment, but few stand as shining lights of resistance amongst a largely dull and uninteresting landscape of football personalities. Let’s be honest, football players are boring once the final whistle goes. The ones that can formulate complete sentences give boring interviews and the highest paid ones often dress like peasants. Even the greatest player ever (Messi) rarely makes headlines when he’s not playing football (that tattoo of his son’s hands on his calf doesn’t count. Seriously, tf was that?).
As much as we celebrate footballing brilliance here at LBF, we gravitate towards players who say what they feel and often express themselves by kicking teammates and shooting off fireworks in bathrooms. That’s right. The rebels. The guys who live life on their own terms and are so brilliant on the pitch that we forgive their missteps off it. We often hail them for it. George Best womanized and boozed. Cantona kicked fans and spewed confusing philosophical words. Zlatan told one of the most respected managers in world football that he had no balls. And Balotelli? Well there are too many to name.
The four blokes mentioned above inspired our latest collection that is titled….
Each footballer represents a decade of rebellion. And we believe that they are the ones that stand out as the sole rebels in each of their respective generations. Each piece of clothing is inspired by their personality and makes some kind of commentary about who they are as both footballers and rebels.
In anticipation of the launch, we have enlisted our friend, Travis to write a three-part series that dives deeper into the mind of each rebel in an attempt to uncover what makes them who they are. The series can be read here.
Editor’s Note: This is the second of a 3 part series by Travis highlighting the rebels in our 40 Years of Rebellion collection.
It would be an incredible disservice to describe Eric Cantona just as a football player, not only to him but to football as it would place too much pressure on a sport alone. Some players are less athletes and more artists in search of a medium, individuals who if they were not on the field, would undoubtly succeed at another medium. Nobody embodied such a range of artistic expression—not limited to sport—as quite as Eric (Maybe Socrates).
Shakespeare was so devastatingly right when he said ““My crown is in my heart, not on my head; not decked with diamonds and Indian stones, nor to be seen: my crown is called content, a crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.”
While there was never a formal crown on his head, no one could deny the royalty of Eric Cantona, who according to Sir Alex Ferguson “swaggered in, stuck his chest out, raises his head and surveyed everything as though he were asking “I’m Cantona, how big are you? Are you big enough for me?” on his first appearance in Old Trafford. In the Theatre of Dreams, he was the Laurence Olivier of the pitch. His performances so renowned and etched into hearts to the point that there comes a flooding of images and emotion when one mentions THAT goal against Sunderland. The goal while amazing comes up short to the aftermath, as he turned around, surveyed the crowd and his teammates—his chest out—before raising his hands like a victorious gladiator.
An artist, a king and a rebel of norms, the French king threw dust in the face of those who are lazy enough to believe that footballers cannot be thinking creatures. A philosopher in his own right, a man, according to Andy Cole that Ferguson never had a go at, even after turning up to a film premiere—where the players were ordered to wear black ties—in a cream lemon suit and Nike trainers. The manager would go on to tell him that he looked fantastic, the same manager known to have cut pieces off the marble statue-esque face of David Beckham.
Such a rebel that when he lost his passion–which he seemed to have an unlimited amount of– he decided to retire from football at the age of 30. For many players, such a thing is as scary as the thought of death; a game that you have played your whole life, your life blood, to give that up so early would be to divide your own spirit. The thought of the uncertain future would be too daunting for most, but not for Eric, a man too confident in himself to be shaken by the prospect of difficult times or unforeseen challenges.
He would move on to film, appearing in such films as ‘Finding Eric’, ‘Elizabeth’, and as Thierry Grimandi in ‘French Film. Apposing takeovers and banking systems, video games, leading the Joga Bonito movement, doing spoken word for the French rock band Dionysos, coaching and succeeding in beach football and becoming the Director of Soccer for the newly resurrected New York Cosmos. Cantona will succeed in whatever he does because he is not limited by that particular thing, his passion and his attitude are his only restrictions. There is no season or age limit for that.
“I’m so proud the fans still sing my name, but I fear tomorrow they will stop. I fear it because I love it. And everything you love, you fear you will lose.”
Travis writes for Surreal Football . You can follow him on twitter @Zitov2
Our friend, Sayra, was at Coachella this past weekend and she shared these amazing photos with us while wearing her LBF XXI heather top (with significant modifications). Since we couldn’t get there this year (and we are assuming most of you didn’t either) we live vicariously through Sayra. Might even photoshop myself in some of these photos. Kidding. Check it out!
A couple of months ago, we showed you sketches of the snapback caps. We took the feedback and got some samples made (above) The final caps will have be black with a red brim, but just wanna show you guys the progress.
The hats drop with the new collection.
- Ebun
A friend of mine posted this Ronaldinho skills video on Facebook and, wow! The artist, Etoilec1, created this flipbook of some of Ronaldinho’s greatest moves and goals. This is next level stuff right here. Enjoy.
You can check out more of Etoilec1′s videos here