WHAT IS THE HATVENT CALENDAR?
This is the third year of PompeyChicken's Hatvent Calendar! It's a bit like an online Advent Calendar.
It's been inspired by the Innocent Drinks company who have been putting little woolen hats on their bottles of smoothies as part of The Big Knit, in aid of the charity Age UK.
You may have seen them on sale in Sainsbury's. PompeyChicken's family has been drinking a lot of smoothies again this year and each hat continues to be a perfect fit!
Two year's ago the Hatvent Calendar made connections between each hat and Pompey.
Last year underneath each hat PompeyChicken unveiled a favourite Pompey video clip.
This year he's been looking through the bookshelves to identify some of his favourite football books. Quite a few have a link to Pompey but not all.
You can read more about the Big Knit, which has been running since 2003, by clicking on the link at the end of this blog.
I hope you enjoy this year's Hatvent Calendar.
POMPEYCHICKEN'S HAT OF THE DAY
TODAY'S BOOK
This book is 'Soccer Rebel The Evolution Of The Professional Footballer' by Jimmy Guthrie published in 1976. Guthrie was of course the captain of Portsmouth when they won the FA Cup in 1939.
There is plenty of coverage in this book of Jimmy Guthrie's work as a member and Chairman of the Players' Union but the first chapter of the book titled 'The Dreams Come True' will be of particular interest to Pompey fans as it covers that 1939 FA Cup Final victory. There are some good pictures too.
It has some great descriptions of the game, for example:
"...the sun was in its heaven, King George VI and the Queen were in the Royal Box and all was for the best in the best of all possible worlds as I led Portsmouth out to meet Wolverhampton Wanderers in the first and only Monkey Gland FA Cup Final..." (page 15).
"...the bookmakers offered us at all prices between eight and ten to one. I had backed Pompey with pounds, shillings and pence..." (page 15).
"...my prime task was to 'look after' young Mister Maguire, an outside-left, who was a bit quick, liked to cut in and had a dynamic left peg..." (page 17).
"...the ball went out to young Mr. Maguire. I timed the tackle well and he went down hard. I picked him up and muttered, 'Next time you finish in the Queen's lap'..." (page 18).
"...I started the move for our first goal...I found him [Jock Anderson] with a long pass. Jock side-footed...to Bert Barlow and all the Navy caps behind our goal were in the air..."(page 18).
"...we had played some good football. I climbed the steps at the head of the team to receive the Cup from His Majesty King George VI. I was over the moon..." (page 18).
"...after our triumph we went back to Portsmouth by train to a quickly arranged reception..." (page 19).
"...Portsmouth's players were paid £20 per man and shared a win bonus of £550..." (page 20).
You can read more about this book on Amazon here ==> Soccer Rebel
LAST YEAR'S HAT
Click on the following link to see the hat and video from one year ago ==> Hatvent Calendar 22nd December 2011
WHAT IS THE BIG KNIT?
To find out more about Innocent Smoothies and the Big Knit you can click on the following link ==> The Big Knit
BlueThruAndThru
