MUNDIAL and Admiral Sports reissue iconic Bob Marley tracksuit
To coincide with the release of Bob Marley: One Love, football culture magazine MUNDIAL have teamed up with Admiral Sports for a limited edition capsule collection inspired by the music legend’s visit to Battersea Park in 1977.
While in London recording the Exodus LP, Bob Marley, along with band members from The Wailers, would visit Battersea Park to play football, often inviting the local community to join. The photos from those kickabouts, and Bob’s iconic navy letterman tracksuit, have since become part of London style and musical folklore.
The collection features a reissue of the full iconic tracksuit alongside the yellow ‘Rico’ t-shirt from Rico Rodriguez MBE, legendary Reggae trombonist, worn by band members during the games, plus two Marley-inspired football shirts.
To mark the launch, MUNDIAL and Admiral will release a short film charting Bob Marley’s connection to football and the city he called his ‘spiritual home’, featuring local music fans and a community leader who remembers the Battersea Park kickabouts first-hand.
MUNDIAL editorial director Owen Blackhurst said: “Bob Marley’s music is some of the most important ever recorded - the soulful ballads, the straight-up anthems and the searing honesty of his protest songs becoming the soundtrack of people’s lives - he taught the world protest could come in many guises, and his well-documented love of football has always added another layer to his everyman appeal.
“These sprawling semi-organised pick-up games are the way everyone started playing football as a kid, it’s football in its purest form and of course, Bob and The Wailers did it in their own inimitable style. It’s an honour for MUNDIAL to be able to celebrate Bob’s legacy.”
Theo Hamburger, head of sales and marketing: “Being part of the Bob Marley story is an honour. Bob Marley is an icon whose message and music filters through the generations. Engaging with people from across Battersea and telling their stories through both music and football just goes to show the great legacy Bob and the band had on the area. Both music and football have an ever-connected link and none more so than in Marley himself.”
