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| BREAKING NEWS: PELE AND TUTU TO VISIT BRIT | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 3 2008, 06:47 PM (107 Views) | |
| JoanneVIP | Apr 3 2008, 06:47 PM Post #1 |
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THE BOSS
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BREAKING NEWS: PELE AND TUTU TO VISIT BRIT SOCCER legend Pele and human rights campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be the star attractions at the unveiling of the Gordon Banks statue, it was announced today. And a celebrity football match between a Gordon Banks Xl and a Pele Xl has also been earmarked to accompany the grand unveiling at the Britannia Stadium in July. "I'm very proud, honoured and flattered that someone should see fit to do this for me," said Banks today. "Normally they only put statues up for people who are dead. I'm only sorry my mother and father aren't here to see it, but luckily I have the rest of my family. "It's nice that it will be put here in Stoke-on-Trent where I live. The sculptor has done a fantastic job. He was even asking me which way I tied my boots to get the right detail." The statue - a life-size depiction of Banks holding aloft the Jules Rimet World Cup at Wembley in 1966 - is the first of three proposed statues scheduled to be followed by recreations of his famous save against Pele in 1970 and a penalty save for Stoke at West Ham in 1972. The completed statue will be unveiled at the Britannia on Saturday, July 12 and will be followed by the celebrity match to raise funds for charity. Organisers have invited Archbishop Tutu, the one-time anti-apartheid campaigner, to mark the World Cup Finals being awarded to South Africa in 2010. The Banks celebration is also a chance, say organisers, to recognise Stoke-on-Trent's contribution to South Africa through Josiah Wedgwood's anti-slavery work and Sir Stanley Matthews's coaching of young footballers in Soweto. Celebrities pencilled in for the charity game at the Britannia include Westlife's Nicky Byrne, actor James Nesbitt and film director Paul Greengrass, while former goalkeepers Bert Trautmann and Bert Williams have been invited to gala dinners that weekend in Stoke and Manchester. Don Mullan, chairman of the Gordon Banks Committee, said today: "This will be the first monument in the western world to a goalkeeper and has been created by a genius at work in sculptor Andrew Edwards." Stoke's chief executive Tony Scholes added: "As a club we have been wowed by what the organisers have done. Let's now do something special on July 12 to put us on the map and make ourselves proud." Credit/Source: www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk / Thanks Yvette for finding/Villy |
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| JoanneVIP | Apr 3 2008, 07:02 PM Post #2 |
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THE BOSS
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Nicky in football shorts wow... a sight worth seeing... |
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| Gloria | Apr 3 2008, 08:07 PM Post #3 |
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Westlife DIVA star
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Thanks for posting Jo,I would love to see Nicky in his shorts. :P |
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| Villy Feehily*McDaid | Apr 3 2008, 08:25 PM Post #4 |
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Villy
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Aw that will be great! I soooo hope we'll have pix of him there :wub: :D |
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| MrsMaryByrne | Apr 4 2008, 07:12 PM Post #5 |
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Mary
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thanks for posting....nicky in shortts :wub: |
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7:25 PM Jul 11