Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
MAGNIFICENT MASCOTS
THEY’VE never scored a World Cup goal or even taken a penalty kick but football mascots have become a traditional part of the beautiful game. Lions, a leopard, a cockerel, a dog, an armadillo and even an orange have all been the official World Cup mascot over the years and fans are being welcomed to Russia this year by a friendly wolf called Zabivaka.
The trend began in 1966 in England when the first World Cup mascot made an appearance.
World Cup Willie was a natty dresser who wore a Union Jack top and white football shorts and sported a 1960s haircut. The soccer-loving lion was pictured with many of the England squad stars including Bobby Charlton and quickly became an international favourite with overseas supporters.
Willie was the creation of illustrator Reg Hoye, who worked on Enid Blyton’s children’s books, and he based Willie on his young son Leo.
The lion was pictured on everything from tea towels to mugs and also starred in his own comic strip.
Skiffle legend Lonnie Donegan also wrote a song about him that included the lyrics: “All dressed in red, white and blue, that’s World Cup Willie, We all love him too, World Cup Willie, He’s tough as a lion and never will give up, That’s why Willie is favourite for the Cup.”
Willie certainly proved a good luck mascot for England as they famously went on to win the World Cup beating West Germany 4-2 in a nailbiting extra time finish.
The soccer lion also paved the way for other football mascots of all shapes and sizes and was followed by sombrerowearing boy Junaito for the 1970 tournament in Mexico, German boys Tip and Tap in West Germany in 1974, young boy Gauchito for Argentina 1978, an orange called Naranjito for Spain 1982 and a jalapeno pepper called Pique for Mexico 1986. The Scottish squad even came up with their own mascot for 1986 – a lion called McMex.
A stick figure footballer known as Ciao turned up for Italy 1990, but America offered some tail-wagging fun in 1994 with Striker, the World Cup Pup.
Designed by Warner Bros. Animation, Striker sported a red, white and blue football strip bearing the words “USA 94” and once again Bobby Charlton took time to meet the football mascot.
Cockerel Footix cheered on the teams when France hosted the World Cup in 1998. The cockerel is one of the national symbols of France and the big blue bird with the red comb, created by graphic designer Fabrice Pialot, became a familiar figure at the games. Again the mascot proved a good luck charm for the host nation and France went on to beat favourites Brazil 3-0 to win the World Cup for the first time.
Computer-generated creatures called Ato, Kaz and Nik, aka The Spheriks, turned up in South Korea and Japan in 2002 while a lion was roaring again for the World Cup matches in Germany four years later. Known as Goleo, his name came from a mix of goal and lion. His sidekick was Pille – a football with a big smiling face – but poor Goleo did come in for some criticism... for not wearing pants.
A leopard called Zakumi was the official mascot when the tournament went to South Africa in 2010 and the green and yellow figure represented the colours of his country’s national sports teams.
FIFA’s secretary-general Jerome Valcke posed with an armadillo called Fuelco when Brazil hosted the World Cup in 2014. The three-banded armadillo is only found in Brazil and is also an endangered species.
Fuelco’s name came from a combination of football and ecology and he was chosen as the official mascot after three different agencies in Brazil submitted various designs. Fuelco also visited construction workers building the stadiums in the run-up to the World Cup to cheer them on.
Russian wolf Zabivaka beat competition from a cat and a tiger wearing a space suit to become the newest World Cup mascot.
The three designs were shortlisted from 120 submissions received from Russian design students and the final selection was put to a countrywide vote. More than a million people voted online. Zabivaka received more than half the votes and was announced as the successful entry on Russian state television. The name translates as “one who scores” or simply “goalscorer”. FIFA said it was “the most engaging creative process” for selecting an official mascot in its history. Russian singer Polina Gagarina, who was part of the original selection panel, said: “Football unites the world and the mascot should be a character that everybody recognises.”
WITH THE WORLD CUP ABOUT TO KICK OFF IN RUSSIA MARION McMULLEN LOOKS AT THE FORGOTTEN STARS OF THE TOURNAMENT... THE FOOTBALL MASCOTS