Soccer Player Striker
“Swift Action” 14” x 20” ink and acrylic on newsprint (Old Sporting News,
magazines, books, etc) about soccer (football).. Newsprint attached to stretched canvas. To view paintings for sale please visit:
John Robertson Sports Paintings for sale.
I did not want to be a footballer when I was a child, and
with good reason - I was born to early
for the game in the
United
States.
As a boy nobody played it. That
was in the late forties. Yes 1948. Football was the LA Rams playing in the LA
Coliseum. Not World Cup Soccer. There was little chance to flourish in soccer,
as a sport at that time.
But that changed when my daughters were in grade school –
and they started to play soccer. On
weekends their school had parent, teacher, student soccer games. Everyone played and it was a
madhouse. But fun. From that experience I found an interest in
soccer. I started following it a little
bit and found more games to play in.
One thing I do the night before I played as game was to
sleep with a soccer ball in the bed beside me.
My wife did not find that amusing.
She was very jealous of my football because, well, because she knew the
next day I would be gone, sometimes with the girls. And when I returned in the evening I was worn
out from the experience. But still, the
night before the game I look at the football, bounce it around with my feet,
even talk to it. This might seem brainless, but it gives me confidence. I talk
to the football, I tell it to do it’s job properly by flying in the net for
me. Actually I was mainly concerned
about tripping over the football or kicking it into the opponent’s net.
What I eventually figured out was that with the growth
of soccer competition in the United Stated and, in particular, World Cup
Football, many of us had been glued to the TV cheering our country on. And no
matter what country you are rooting for, soccer is a sport that brings the
whole world together. In keeping with the spirit of the World Cup, I decided to
paint a few soccer inspired images from various photos from around the
world. I am just getting started but
look forward to the challenge. It is the
start of something interesting for me and maybe the way soccer is going in the United States
a greater interest in the sport. And
what is the most interesting position of a player to paint? A striker.
