Like the rest of the country we were shocked and sad to see the pictures of Paul Gascoigne struggling at a recent event where he had clearly succumbed to the disease he has so successfully been fighting for the last few years.

Having spent a wonderful day with him last year it is a sharp reminder as to the constant battle Paul and others face and how quickly they can turn from leading a normal healthy life to being unable to function effectively.

We approached the signing session with apprehension due to the stories we had heard about unreliability, but our fears were completely unfounded as from the moment we arrived, Gazza was on fine form.

Often when you meet a ‘hero’ you have followed and admired, the reality can be a massive let down;  especially if it’s been a few years since they have competed at the highest level- not Gazza. He arrived 10 minutes early and we were greeted with a big hug. He then set about helping us set up the room, offering his advice on where he should sit, what order he should sign and how much we should be selling for!

But it was his warmth, honesty, sense of humour and the overall ability to light up a room that completely met our hopes and expectations.

The stories flowed, the jokes were sharp and when the session allowed he grabbed the football we had ‘conveniently’ brought with us and showed off his party tricks as well as regaling us with great football anecdotes from his past.

There were signs of the battle he was fighting and when asked he spoke openly about the challenges, the need to surround himself with the right people and his appreciation of the people in Bournemouth and the support they were giving him.

But his mind was so sharp, his determination so focussed and his personality so endearing that it was difficult to relate this to the pictures that have appeared in the press in the last couple of weeks.

Paul Gascoigne may have achieved great fame and sporting honours but deep down he is a normal boy from Newcastle who made a living playing the game he loves. As a result he is as vulnerable as all of us  to addiction, illness and other evils.

But he is loved by all who meet him and the likes of Chris Evans, Piers Morgan and Gary Lineker  are good friends  to have at  times like these.

Sportsrabilia wish him a speedy recovery and hope it won’t be long until he is making the right headlines and spreading his joy.

http://www.sportsrabilia.com/video/gazza/

Down to earth, real people who were blessed with a talent and then work hard to achieve a dream often without funding, whilst working full time and with the support of families who make unbelievable sacrifices to allow a dream to be followed.
Some were getting the tube to events, some were going to Nandos straight after their event but all were competing with a smile and an appreciation that they will never appear in front of crowds like this again.
The Press were stumped. They were ready to tell stories of empty stadiums, chaos on the tubes and GB failure but in fact from Day 3 onwards the opposite was true.
Whether it was fencing, table tennis, beach volleyball or places like Earls Court, Lea Valley or Wimbledon you suddenly couldn’t get a ticket for love or money.
Anybody who went to any event even if it was to see the torch relay or to Hyde Park to watch events on a big screen got caught up in the atmosphere, the stories and the transformation of a city where suddenly everyone was friendly and singing songs to people in queues!
And all along ‘they’ knew and many doubted.
Who is ‘they’? Well Lord Seb Coe will take the headlines and has undoubtedly proved a great leader in securing the Games and putting them on but there are others who will probably get little recognition.
They billed it as ‘the greatest show on earth’ – they were right. A once in a life time event it was amazing to be part of.

PELÉ SIGNS FOR SPORTSRABILIA

Sportsrabilia secures exclusive global memorabilia license for Pelé

August 12, 2012 (London) – International sports memorabilia licensors, Sportsrabilia, has scored a first by securing the global memorabilia license for football superstar and FIFA Player of the Century, Pelé.

The four and a half year deal struck between Sportsrabilia and Pelé’s global management agency, Legends 10, sees the London company awarded exclusive global rights over the footballer’s signature.

With Legends 10 recently unifying all rights for Pelé, the contract is a first for the sports memorabilia industry and aims to inject consumer confidence back into the market by combating counterfeit signatures.

Sportsrabilia will be responsible for safeguarding Pelé’s name and his global fandom by regulating the use of his signature on all items of memorabilia.

Sportsrabilia CEO, Danny Schindler, said; ‘We’re extremely proud of this industry first and to implement the initiative alongside an international legend such as Pelé is an honour.

‘The black market is prospering through unregulated counterfeit memorabilia, conning consumers with fake authentication and naturally players and clubs are becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of control. Our priority is to protect the fans and by being the sole licensor of Pelé’s signature, we can ensure that what consumers are buying is 100% genuine.’

With three of the world’s biggest sporting events taking place in Pelé’s home country of Brazil throughout the duration of the contract – 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics – Sportsrabilia is preparing for further amplification of the three-time World Cup winner’s profile and legacy.

Says Terry Byrne, Executive Vice President of Legends 10: “Sportsrabilia is a growing, yet established business that complements our vision of entering new markets with the Pelé brand while also protecting his legacy and maintaining high standards and distinct quality control of autographed merchandise being released to the public.”

Download Press Release

Paul was in great form as you will see from the link and signed a number of official licensed Rangers products.

He was also delighted to partake in a humorous Q & A session, the results of which will be shown at a later date.

Watch the video here.

That’s the life of an England fan. The big date was 27th June 2010 – Germany 4 England 1 – Chris Waddle going mad on the radio that’s its all to do with the coaching system, the papers were saying that it’s the managers fault and the pub talk was of players getting far too much money and not really caring.

You promised yourself that you would never get excited about the England Football team again, that when the country got caught up in the fervour you would be the one that kept things in perspective.

But here we are, it’s the build up to another major Championship and we are back at the bar looking at the entrance waiting and hoping she turns up. The question is why?

Part of it is the game of football itself. The unpredictability; the fact that anything COULD happen and the knowledge that every major championship unveils a brand new superstar and this time it could be one of our boys.

Part of it is the history and the memory of the boys of 1966. We’ve done it before we can do it again. Football is our number one sport and we should be up there competing with the best.

But deep down its more than that.

If you are 30+ you remember playing in the park with coats for goal posts imagining you were playing for England in a World Cup final against Brazil. The ball would be knocked in a hundred times until the overhead kick could be executed perfectly and the celebrations would be rehearsed with equal precision.

If you are under 30 then the scenario can be brought closer to life with the Play station 3 and FIFA but the dream is still the same and who can think anything other than the boys running out in those England shirts are just fulfilling that dream. They were kids playing in the park, they were boys playing the games and they have an obligation to us to do their very best to make the dreams come true.

Nothing will convince me that however much money they get paid they don’t want to do their best for England, for us, for them, for me?

And so the eternal hope, like with the girl; they want the relationship to work, they will eventually turn up and I have to be at the bar when they do!

If the product is visually attractive and can be placed on a wall or shelf without offending too many people then that is a bonus. If over a period of time, whilst it is potentially collecting dust it can increase in value then that is a REAL bonus.

Whilst there can never be a money back guarantee that this will be the case, history has shown that the impulse, sentimental purchase you make for slightly illogical reasons can turn out to be a really good financial investment.

Many items used by famous football players e.g. match shirts or boots have been sold for a lot of money at auctions such as Sotheby’s and others. One of the highest prices fetched for a football match worn shirt is $224,000. The shirt belonged to the legendary Pele, who wore it during the 1970 World Cup final in which Brazil went onto win.

The ultimate bit of football memorabilia? This debate could go on for hours but  Going to the Match was painted by LS Lowry in 1953 and won a prize in a competition which marked the 90th anniversary of the Football Association. It depicts a scene of fans on their way to a match at Burnden Park, the former home of Bolton Wanderers. Lowry lived close to the ground but his interest was probably more to do with turning the crowds into his trademark ‘matchstick men’ rather than the game itself. The painting was bought by the Professional Footballers Association in 1999 at a Sotheby’s auction. PFA Chief Executive Gordon Taylor did the bidding and said of the painting ‘it represents the heart and soul of the game – the anticipation of crowds going to the match.’ How much? Well in 1999 it cost the PFA £1,926,500 which was a record for a modern British painting.

If you purchase an item for investment reasons only, be aware that adding an autograph to an item used in a particular game or by a particular star can increase or decrease the value of the item, depending on the situation. If the autograph has been personalized the autograph devalues the item on the public market. Also, collectors put little value on autographed memorabilia that is sold without a certificate of authenticity. Several companies have developed systems to prove authenticity of game-used or autographed memorabilia.

At Sportsrabilia we combine the use of holograms and Certificates of Authenticity that include pictures of the item and the signing session, the number of the Limited edition and signatures representing the License and a member of staff that witnessed the signing session.

This gives our customers absolute assurance on the authenticity and enhances the value if sold on in later years.

Whatever happens to the actual value, collectors will always be able to view their memorabilia as having a sentimental value. They might look at it as a childhood memory, or as an important moment of life shared with his or her favourite star or team and very often that can be priceless!

The Scottish club have won their League 54 times – more top flight national championships than any other club in the world.

With an average home attendance of over 45,000 they are one of the best supported clubs in Europe and in 2008 a Nacho Novo penalty secured a place for Rangers in the UEFA cup final against Zenit St. Petersburg. The resulting match attracted 200,000 fans to Manchester and was watched by many more around the globe.

Steeped in history Rangers won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1972 and their recent Hall of Famers include Ally McCoist, Graeme Souness, Andy Goram, Terry Butcher, Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup.

Sportsrabilia CEO Danny Schindler said ‘‘We are delighted to be associated with such a great club and look forward to producing a range of memorabilia items that will appeal to Rangers fans of all ages.’’

Steven Romeo retail development manager for Rangers said ‘‘Having seen the quality of Sportsrabilia’s products we feel they will do justice to the great history and tradition of our club.’’

The first range of products will be available early in the New Year.

The forgery ring made sales of up to $100 million for fake sports autographs and other collectibles which they sold through the internet, TV home shopping networks, auctions, sports shops, and others. That was also equal to thousands of deceived sports collectors.

In an evaluation made by the top sports authenticator in the industry, Professional Sports Authenticator or PSA, they found out that among the 10,000 autographs of Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan, only 33% were real. That is about 3,300 authentic sports autographs and 6,700 were counterfeit sports autographs.

As a result of these revelations, major U.S Sports properties, clubs and personalities took the unprecedented step of appointing a professional Memorabilia company to produce a range of items that the buying public could be assured was the real thing.

In addition, the subject of the range dramatically increased control over the products that were released on to the market and ensured high quality and authenticity were maintained.

The success of this action can be judged by the fact that 20 years later all the major US sporting properties including Jordan and Woods continue to have their Sporting Memorabilia partnerships.

In many ways the current UK memorabilia market is similar to the US market of 20 years ago.

The message from the major sporting properties is that they have had enough of seeing poor quality products on the Internet and in shops that they may or may not have signed. They want their fans to be able to buy quality products at affordable prices.

The message from the public is that they demand more assurances that they are buying the real product. They want a range of imaginative, well presented items that brings them closer to their heroes.

Sportsrabilia has been created to answer these messages.

Sportsrabilia has collaborated with the England football team to produce a unique and exclusive collection of memorabilia to offer fans the chance to buy a piece of football history.

Under the new deal between Sportsrabillia and The FA, limited edition pieces signed by stars such as Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and John Terry will be available prior to Christmas 2011. There will be further collections released in the build up to and during the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine and the forthcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

The product range will feature high-impact imagery, player biographies, landmark achievements, actual sections of match balls and full squad pieces and will carry the signatures and authentication of the England team.

The England Collection will be available to buy from www.sportsrabilia.com and will be competitively priced starting at £150. A selection of individual items will also be made available for auction at charity events around the UK, helping raise money for worthwhile causes.

The exclusive range will be authenticated and protected to levels previously unseen in the UK. Each piece will include a hologram, FA stamp and a certificate of authenticity signed by a member of The FA and a representative of Sportsrabilia present at the signing session. These lengths have been taken to both protect the players and The FA but most importantly the Sportsrabilia customers.

Commenting on the partnership, FA spokesperson Nicky Stanton said: “The Sportsrabilia range will give England fans a chance to buy a piece of football history and feel closer to the England team. They can also be assured that they are purchasing a fully licensed and authenticated product.’’

Danny Schindler, Chief Executive Officer of Sportsrabilia added: “We are delighted and proud to be working with the FA and the England squad. This partnership will create a unique range of items that will be ideal for collectors and make the perfect gift for football fans across the country in the run-up to Christmas.”

For full details visit the Sportsrabilia web site at www.sportsrabilia.com

For more information and images, contact:

Danny Schindler, Chief Executive Officer:
T. 020 8736 5865
M. 07970 943901
dannyschindler@sportsrabilia.com

Sportsrabilia, Catalyst House, 720 Centennial Court, Centennial Park, Elstree, Herts WD6 3SY