Gridball
1959
Gridball artwork is made for Gridball by 3D artist Linwelly. Characters are brilliantly brought to life in their unique team kits, in match action, in training kit or in off court situations.
Gridball '53
Group images
Training kit and props
1952: Players in Kits
Gertrude Keegan
Liverpool
In the early days of Gridball, it was easy for the creator of the game to picture it in their head, but they lacked the artistic skills to visualise that image for viewers. Until commissioning 3D artist, Linwelly to create some players and kits. That collaboration has evolved ofver the last coupe of years to produce some excellent depictions and imaginings of players in various scenarios
1952: Kits
When compared to where the Gridball images have gone since the first commission, the original plan to simply create kits and players wearing them seems almost conservative, but those first creations excellently brought Gridball '52 to life. Each subsequent addition has produced new images and continued to push the boundaries of imagry of the game
Gridball '53 saw the introduction of posing multiple players from the same team in duos and team groups, The Cheshire Cats trio of Vaughan, Sloane, and Kaye were posed together on a bench, which also saw the introduction of props. Gridball has also walked a fine line between promoting it as a professional sport but also suggesting that it played to a glamourous 1950s image. There's no doubt that Jean Sloane would have raised a few eyebrows with this training kit back in 1953.
Gridball '54
Super Glam
It's a bat 'n' ball game
For Gridball 1954 the glamour boundary was pushed a little further. The idea that the players of the 50s might have been pin ups or, dare it be said, sex symbols, was something that Gridball didn't shy away from. The idea was that just because Croydon's Jenny Tresillian posed for this riskay shot for Sports Illustrated in a precursor to it's famed swimsuit editions of the 60s, she couldn't also be a World Class netminder for the Crystals too. However, it was also important to always try and keep the sporting balance too and Anna Maynor's pic saw the first depiction of a player armed with bat and ball.
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Gridball '55
Time for a trophy
Champions!
For Gridball '55 it was suggested that it was time the competition had a trophy, which was not only quickly created, but also placed in the hands of some of the characters who've won it. The Glasgow Claymores celebratory team image was by far the most ambitious and challenging project yet. The setting of three players holding their victorious captain aloft was a popular photo opportunity in team sports the world over both before, during, and long after the 50s. Indeed, it's curious teams don't seem to do it anymore. However, no big team sporting event was complete without the triumphant chaired image and the Glasgow Claymores image was the result. Note the main trophy in the hands of captain, Lydia Law, while Eileen Logan is also holding a smaller 'Golden Bat' trophy.
Gridball '56
Time to get chic
Lifestyle shots
Gridball '57
Sizzlingly hot
Supreme
athletes
Yes, there were players depicted in their team colours in Gridball '56, but the brief for creating characters also started asking to put players in situations outside the game, as if they'd been photographed for their fame and image outside the sport. Sabrina Kaye had already been created for a previous edition as a gangly teenager in her team colours, so asking to create her again as an older and more established character posed its own challenges. The results were superb as she was placed on a great-looking futuristic scooter, which oozed 1950s chic and put her firmly into the character of someone who is a sporting hero and style icon. Good backstories are becoming increasingly important in bringing the players to life. They're often a combination of female sports stars and glamour icons of the era, such as models and beauty queens. The result blends glamour, style, and sporting ability. Florence Murray made a great example as a character created as the number one Irish Tennis player, who turned down a shot at playing at Wimbledon for her place as a Gridballer with Belfast. So Murray was depicted playing Tennis.
For Gridball '57 a lot of challenges were posed in whom the characters were depicted as the characterisation continued to push the twin boundaries of Glamour and athleticism. On the glamour side, four characters were created as having posed for the fictional French style, fashion and glamour magazine Charme. The quartet were all fantastic shots in their own right and can be found on the various Gridball sites, the one selected here shows Liverpool star, Constance Kidd posing with a car of the era. To maintain that glamour vs professionalism balance, a first attempt was made to show a game in action, and the result was superb as St Louis Dyanne Callan and Willesden's Beryl Neville were shown in match action
Gridball '58
Men in Gridball?
GOAL!!!!
Goalies
For Gridball '58 there was a hope to show an action image of a Final. Placing so many figures into an action image would be a huge challenge, especially in terms of composition. The task was set to show a scene moments after the winning goal was scored. Willesden players rush to mob the goalscorer, who for the record is Margaret Rees, Beryle Lugg-Neville throws her hands round her as Maureen Davis joins in. Jean Anstiss is depicted as slightly distanced while Portsmouth's dejected Ilene Andrews stands forlornly as a background figure. Nan Clarke is the other Portsmouth player in the foreground and is blurred by a zoom style to the image, having batted the ball away in frustration.
And no, men's Gridball hasn't started. Though anyone who wants to take up that mantle is more than welcome to give me a shout. The idea of this image was in the style of a press set up. In a fictional world of Gridball it's not hard to imagine the romantic lives of players being high in public interest, especially if they date other celebrities. In this idea, Willesden's Ann Hanslip has just become engaged to A fictional Tottenham Hotspur Footballer. The two are depicted as having swapped their team strips for a publicity shot.
Gridball '59 or Gridball 2000?
Character imagery
The dilemma of how to depict a goalie is also solved when West Ham's Priscilla Hale Kilburn is shown wearing padding for the first time. With a ball, albeit one similar to a Tennis ball is being hit at them at high speed, and their expected to stop it with their bodies, padding is going to be essential.
Matching the storyline
Moving into 1959 and one of the challenges within the narrative of the game is to expand away from Britain and also the fact that the 1950s lacked multiculturalism. West Ham's Beverly Marshall was an early creation to put a player of African heritage into what was a very white looking world. The gradual move to the USA helps address that balance as there are a lot of African/Americans in teams, which also gave the narrative of Gridball to be a sport that defied the Jim Crow laws that applied in the USA in this decade. On another note, by 1959 the world is obsessed with the space age and how we'll live in the 21st Century. Beverly was used as a model for a publicity style shot called Gridball 2000 where she's dressed in a space age, and quite racy version of a Gridball outfit and given a plastic bat and ball to pose with. If you think there's a hint of similarity to actress Nicehelle Nichols of Star Trek fame, that's a little deliberate.
Attempting to make characters look right for both the era and where they come from is given a lot of thought and the example of Los Angeles' Sheila Morrison is an example of that. Sheila was based on a bronzed and beautiful Californian model of the time and that's been captured really well while also having to depict her in a very different sporting style.
The image of Jo Prowse uses the narrative of the individual character's story. In the game, Jo, originally from England, has spent three years in Paris with the Montmartre Belles. However, their demotion to the Second Tier in 1959 has seen Jo seek a new team. She joins Glasgow and this is a press style depiction of her arriving in Glasgow. The building imagery in the background is indeed based on Glasgow Central Station while the bus also carries a Gridball advert and leaves you in no doubt that Jo is in the UK. with the very British post box and a Red Routemaster bus {And just to save anyone mailing in. Glasgow Routemasters in 1959 were green and orange but the classic red is much more iconic so it's a bit of poetic licence} Again, like Sheila, and many of the players in other images created in the sets, a lot of effort has been made to make her look like the model she's styled on. She also has that bit of extra glamour and style of suggesting a Parisienne influence.
Do you have an idea of how a Gridballer could be depicted in 1958?
Why not email Gridball with your idea and we'll put it to Linwelly to see if it can be created.
