It’s 17th September 2006, and right on cue at The Valley, Tresor Lomana LuaLua is springing into his legendary 360 flip, Scott Carson’s despairing glove not enough to parry an uncharacteristically tepid effort from rolling into the Charlton net. It’s an inglorious but well-appreciated win, and while it fires Portsmouth F.C. temporarily to the pinnacle of British football, elsewhere in deepest Dorset on the way to End of the Road Festival in a barely legal family saloon, two scruffy indie kids punch the air.
That goal, and more directly the borrowed money that they’ve bet on the outcome of the game, has just paid for the first ever Alcopop! Records release.
13 years on, in honour of their unlikely patron, and forever hero, Alcopop! have linked up with legendary purveyors of terrible football doodles ‘The Panini Cheapskates’ to forever mark this significantly sparkly footnote in indie-rock history. Asking the crayon-happy duo to pen Lomana Lua Lua to appear on a Pay What You Want Shirt (minimum donation £5), all proceeds from sales will be donated to United Glasgow FC—a team who prioritise positivity, and inclusivity, creating opportunities by tackling exclusion, inviting participants from a variety of disadvantaged groups to offer them opportunities they may otherwise have been denied.
In a beautiful statement of solidarity, a host of leading lights in the forward-thinking UK underground punk movement have also offered to lend a track to a digital compilation that comes with the shirt, to encourage potential shoppers to spend a little more, and ensure that it’s not just the shirt that comes with an incredibly positive message. In short, it’s a selection of—to put it simply—bands who give a sh*t; bands that stand out and do something positive; bands who mean something and have something to say.
Featuring the likes of Petrol Girls, Muncie Girls, Dream Nails, Fresh, Cable Ties, False Advertising and Nervus amongst plenty more, the compilation can be downloaded from Bandcamp with or without the shirt for free, though Alcopop! Records encourage you to please leave a donation if you can.
Speaking about United Glasgow FC’s place in the community, Fundraising Coordinator Janika Fuchs said: “United Glasgow FC is a community project and amateur football club providing inclusive and fun football in Glasgow. Based on the guiding principles of financial inclusion and anti-discrimination, the club is volunteer run and costs kept to a minimum in an effort to provide football for everyone irrespective of their socio-economic background.”
Alcopop! Records label manager Jack Clothier adds: “We first read about the amazing United Glasgow FC in Mundial Magazine, and it’s such a positive club happening up there—completely buoyed by inclusivity and genuinely helping people out and giving them an outlet to express themselves and get on in a new environment. Luckily for us Alex and Sian at the Panini Cheapskates were on hand to draw the mercurial Lomana LuaLua, and when we got in touch with him to check he was cool with it, he couldn’t have been nicer about it.”
“A compilation came naturally with the Bandcamp mechanic, and it’s heart-warming to see what some awesome bands were keen to support, to make this more than just the shirt. The shirts are priced at a fiver minimum donation, but if you love Tresor and can spare more, please do. The money is going to a fantastic place.”
Whether this news will be followed up by some kind of new-legendary 5-a-side tournament will have to wait and see…
United Glasgow FC compilation tracklist:
1. False Advertising – You Won’t Feel Love
2. Arxx – Y.G.W.Y.W. (You Got What You Want)
3. Cable Ties – Same For Me
4. Cheerbleederz – Cabin Fever
5. Petrol Girls – The Sound
6. Dream Nails – Fascism is Coming
7. Fresh – Punisher
8. Gaffa Tape Sandy – Kill The Chord
9. Happy Accidents – Wait It Out
10. Jemma Freeman and the Cosmic Something – Small Town Boy
11. Muncie Girls – High
12. Nervus – Flies
13. itoldyouiwouldeatyou – Get Terrified
The World According To Lomana LuaLua artwork:
