There is something about retro sports brands that I love, and Gola is a brand that I feel I had a bit of a special relationship with. The reason for that is that it was the sponsor of my favourite comic book footballer, Roy of the Rovers. I used to get that comic every Saturday for about 10 years and I still have all my copies up in my loft (expect a big blog post on that some time in the future). Gola was the team sponsor of Melchester Rovers and appeared on all of the team’s football shirts. When I was younger I initially just assumed this was a made up brand, like Acme, as it was an anagram of ‘Goal’, but when I found out that you could actually buy Gola merchandise my little mind was blown. It was like my comic book was coming to life.
Gola was at its height in the 70s and attracted partnerships with big names of the time such as Ray Clemence, Emlyn Hughes and Peter Shilton from Liverpool FC. To me, Gola is one of the biggest names when it comes to 70s/80s retro sports cool. I love their logo and style. I would love to get my hands on some of their shoes and bags.
Gola is now celebrating over 100 years in the sports fashion business with the release of a series of unique retro images from the Gola archives. These include advertisements in magazines like Shoot! and appearances in Roy of the Rovers. You can see some of these images below, with some additional comments from myself.
PIC BELOW – Just look at those haircuts. Peter Shilton’s hair looks lovely. Alan Hudson actually looks really like Charlie Watts from The Rolling Stones there.
PIC BELOW – Play hide and seek in your very own awesome Gola tracksuit. I also love the old TV at the bottom with the Gola logo.
PIC BELOW – I’m a sucker for ‘Anatomy of a…’ pictures, and this kid is Gola’d up to the eyeballs (including a Gola Embrocation Spray!).
PIC BELOW – Gola boots even let you play with invisible footballs. Emlyn Hughes was a bit of a legend in the 70s, and even appeared as a character in the Roy of the Rovers comic strip, so it’s great to see him as the focus of the advertisement campaign.
PIC BELOW – Pretty good acting by this lad, to pretend he just caught a fast ball. That is, if they weren’t actually throwing fast balls repeatedly at him. I’m sure they weren’t.
PIC BELOW – What a selection of awesome shoes. Just check out those boxing boots!
PIC BELOW – I love the sheer joy on the faces of these Gola clad models. Especially the dude in the brown. He’s loving it. I’ll tell you what I love. That awesome yellow bag on the floor. That’s a thing of beauty.
PIC BELOW – This picture just screams 70s, and it is amazing. I want this as a poster.
PIC BELOW – Everything looks in this photo. Even the cricket.
PIC BELOW – The guy in the glasses is living the good life, and he knows it. Very cool.
PIC BELOW – And here he is. The main man, Roy of the Rovers. It was genius for Gola to sponsor a comic strip team.
PIC BELOW – If I still played football I would happily play in these Roy Race bad boys.
