Monday, January 27, 2014

Badge of the Day #64 (Sachsenring Zwickau)





This latest object to be acquired for the collection represents the glory of Sachsenring Zwickau, another of the great lost names of European football, now rebranded as FSV Zwickau who, although they have quite an attractive club crest, can’t be said to hold a candle in terms of nomenclature.
Sachsenring quite possibly might have come to attention during the 1974 World Cup finals, perhaps being mentioned in dispatches as being the club of Jurgen Croy, East Germany’s goalkeeper whose own name registered at the time & has been remembered since, but, if not, then they must have done, with the inevitably seductive results, during their run to the semi-finals of the Cup-Winners’ Cup during 1975-76 (which tournament featured, as has been previously noted, a truly irresistible roster of entrants), certainly when playing against & eliminating Glasgow Celtic at the quarter-final stage: as usual, the exotic wonder of the Germanic name has endured to inspire a lingering affection, whatever the vicissitudes of history.
The badge itself displays a sufficiently vintage appearance (& Sachsenring Zwickau were known as such between 1968 & 1990) to inspire that particular ‘Ostalgie’ for the names & products of the former Soviet bloc, &, as such, is a source of hauntological richness, being a physical manifestation of the ghost of a name & sporting institution.

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