FLAGS & BANNERS of the NJB
| Banners | Flags |
|---|---|
Asteriks at the end of a descripition denotes a contributed photo. Photos have been contributed from Yellow Card Journalism and ussoccerfan.com with their permission. Look in the status bar for the name of the photograper and/or contributing source.
Design: Ed Kirwan & Rob Huebner
Artwork: Rob Huebner
Completion: August '97
Dimensions: 4 x 4ft
Caps: 26 (7 World Cup & 13 Qualifiers)
Other: Lost by Real Salt Lake
The showpiece of the NJB and the banner that started the whole NJB idea back in 97. The banner accompanied us on every trip we would make to see the US play until June of 2005 when the bastards at Real Salt Lake took our banner down and allowed some schmuck to walk off with it. This was our first attempt at making a banner, this banner was hand sketched in pencil by Rob and is mainly colored by Permanent Markers. A paint pen was used for the white spots and a colored pencil for the brown in the state. Sleeves were sewn into the bottom to allow for metal rods to be inserted to weigh down the banner. Accolades: Over 25 members of the nation team have signed the banner including Tab Ramos, John Harkes, Claudio Reyna & Alexi Lalas. The banner has also appeared in the VfL Wolfsburg Goal magazine 4/01/00 vs Bayern München.
Petke 2002 BannerBack in 98, this banner idea seemed like a sure thing. Mike Petke was a real promising rookie and look destined to play for the national team, but for whatever reason over the years, Bruce Arena never really gave Petke too much of a chance. Again Rob hand sketched the banner. Learning from our first banner, however, we decided to use cloth paint instead of using permant markers which bled when it rained. Little did we know that the paint ran too.... Accolades: Signed by Petke whose response was "Wow" when he saw the banner. Banner was made in one night as we worked round the clock to get ready for the first game where Ed bleached his hair to look like Petke.
Design: Rob Huebner
Artwork: Rob Huebner
Completion: May '99
Dimensions: 4 x 5ft
Other: One attempted theft by el Flaco
Rob has many things in common with Billy Walsh. Tall, Goofy-looking, lives in NJ, went to Rutgers...and Billy gave Ed his jersey... so making a banner for him made perfect sense. Straying from our other banner attempts and learning from our mistakes, this banner is made strictly of cloth. Rob layed out the banner design using strands of string, then drew all the pieces on the different color cloths. We cut out the pieces and then using iron-on tranfer paper and a bit of cloth glue applied to the banner. Accolades: Signed by Billy Walsh. Earned NJB an invitation in the prestigous Walsh Cup Tournament in '99 and a return visit in '01 Tourney.
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20 x 30ft US FlagAfter watching the Euro 2000 Championships and seeing all the big flags that each country had, Ed decided it was about time that the US had some big flags of their own. BUT where do you find something that big? EBAY of course. Within a week, Ed was able to find a 20x30ft flag that was affordable and in his price range. You can't go wrong with a flag of that size for only $150 including shipping. The flag made its debut at the first home WCQ of the 2002 campaign and quickly became known as the "NJB Flag." It made it to every home WCQ game before its bigger brother came around. Since the BAF's arrival, the Baby has become a road warrior making trips to Mexico, T&T, Ireland & Korea for the World Cup. Returning from Korea in beat up shape, this flag had seen better days. Like Lassie, it can be replaced and Ed was fortunate enough to find another 20 x 30ft US flag and the original Baby was then donated to the Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneita, NY.
Alias: Big ASS Flag or BAF
Owner: 25 plus soccer crazed fans
Caps: 15 (11 Qualifiers)
Debut: 4-25-01 (WCQ vs Costa Rica)
Other: Allegedly weighs in at over 90 lbs
Ed wasn't satsified with the Baby flag. At MLS CUP '00, there was a huge flag that was carried out on the field by the local Marines. It was HUGE. Ed wanted a flag that big. Going back to trusty ebay, Ed was again lucky enough to find such a flag. An enormous 30 x 60ft US flag for $800. A steal considering that new ones of that size go for $1500 and up. Knowing he could count on fellow National team fans' Ed drew up a plan and posted it on BigSoccer.com. Within a week Ed had combined pledges totaling over $900 from over 25 people. Ed eventually won the bid for the flag and all but one person sent in their money. The flag was shipped out to Kansas City and made a very successful debut vs Costa Rica.
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