Paul Town The Man WHO Paints Football

Dr. Andrew Liddle continues his series on great northern artists with a review of a Bradfordian’s first book

Paul Town has to be considered the finest and most dedicated football artist in the country - period!

The Turf has attracted great artists down the ages intent on capturing noble steeds, the colourful silks of the jockeys, the speed and danger of the race. The Long Room at Lord's is stuffed with magnificent portraits of famous players spanning the entire history of the game.

Name me a football artist – other than the one before us who is rapidly becoming a byword in the great game! Born in Bradford, Paul fell in love at an early age not just with football but with the artistry of it, the period architecture of the grounds, the poster-bright football strips, the scarves, the banners, the programmes. These continue to provide the vibrant palette for his artistry but early, deeper experiences clearly coloured his vision.

As a child he explored the abandoned ground of Bradford Park Avenue and felt keenly the sense loss to his community. In adolescence he was in the crowd at Bradford City’s Valley Parade, in 1985, when 56 people lost their lives in the fire. One of the deadliest tragedies in football history, the scene is seared on his memory and he has coped with the trauma by painting the old and new grounds many times, finding some consolation in that what he witnessed contributed profoundly to the transformation of football stadia around the world.

Over the past decade or so Paul has been able to turn this passion for painting football scenes into a profession and this, first book, showcases his work over this period, celebrating Britain’s unique miscellany of football grounds, ancient and modern, large and small.

Valley Parade and Park Avenue naturally feature large in the opening pages and there is one heart-stopping memento of the last-ever derby between the two sides, played at the latter ground in 1969. As a proud Yorkshireman, he has also limned in loving detail the old grounds at Barnsley, Halifax, York and Leeds, not forgetting Hillsborough and Bramall Lane in Sheffield.

Other sections of the book are given over gloriously to Humberside and Lincolnshire, the North East and North West, the Midlands and East of England, London and the South East, the South Coast, South West and Wales. Scotland’s quirky old grounds, Greenock Morton’s beloved Cappielow Park, Kilmarnock’s famous Rugby Park, Annfield, the much missed former home of Stirling Albion and many more are treated with as much reverence as the mighty Parkhead, Ibrox and Hampden Park.

Turn the pages and you begin to immediately appreciate the sense of excitement and passion, hope and expectation that shines out of all Paul’s paintings. Part of their nostalgic appeal is that they so often celebrate the last days of an old order of football. The old grounds, some even pre-Great War, might now seem drab compared with modern all-seater stadia, but they come magically alive under the floodlights, transformed into glittering fields of dreams in his vision.

Above all, Paul has a romantic eye for the historically glorious, immortalising those special moments and finest hours that become part of football folklore, the derby matches and F.A. Cup giant slayings, the ones that old men tell their grandchildren about, those Agincourt moments when you had to have been there …

Not surprisingly, oil paintings such as these have become extremely popular with the global audience of football fans and have pride of place in homes and club boardrooms. He has exhibited widely and his acclaimed Hampden Trilogy featured prominently at the home of Scottish Football. The world of publishing quickly appreciated the emotive power of his images which have appeared in glossy magazines and journals and proved ideal as cover images of football-related books.

For obvious reasons, there had to be a book - and Heritage Unlocked must be commended for this beautifully got-up volume whose high production standards allow the paintings to be viewed in detail.

This debut publication, graced by a foreword from the doyen of northern football commentators, John Helm, tells Paul’s story, tracing his journey from master builder to consummate artist. It provides, moreover, a unique insight into the lost world of football. Now it’s possible to see his paintings not just as individual works of art but in a gloriously representative collection.

Confirmation is at hand in vivid colour, dramatic detail and a myriad memories that Paul is the man who paints football. It’s on the shelves in time for Christmas and those who have not yet bought it will clearly have it on their wish lists. It’s never been easier to find that special present for the football fan …

The Man Who Paints Football, by Paul Town, priced £19.99, is published by Heritage Unlocked and is available from bookshops, galleries, online retailers and from the publishers’ website at: www.heritageunlocked.com/shop and www.paultownart.com