Stephen (@StephenJBaker) glories in the simple magic of filling a sticker book with Cymru players!
With all the build up to the World Cup in a few weeks one of my childhood dreams have finally happened. Many years after becoming an adult. Yes, I’m talking about Cymru finally being in a World Cup sticker album!
From the time I was seven when my Dad bought me the 1982 Spain World Cup sticker album until the Italia 90’ album, I dreamt of seeing my heroes in sticker form. Getting a sticker of a player that played for the club side you supported was great. But even then I knew that what I really wanted was to open a packet and see Dai Davies or Joey Jones. Later sticker albums didn’t seem the same without greats like Ian Rush, Neville Southall and Dean Saunders being part of the collection.
The closest we would get to seeing any sign of Cymru in the album was finding the team that qualified from our Group, Then seeing the final qualification table printed on their page and there in third, fourth or fifth place would be us.
As I mentioned the last album was Italia 90’ with the 1994 World Cup qualifying being was far too close and far too painful. I couldn’t consider collecting stickers for a tournament that we were within the width of a crossbar. So there ended my World Cup sticker collecting obsession, No American sticker book for me. I never got to see Cymru in one or completing a collection.
Thirty-two years after my last unfinished World Cup album, came that glorious June evening. One of the bonuses of reaching the World Cup for the first time in sixty-four years meant that we were finally in the Qatar 2022 album.
This time around I won’t have to wait for my pocket money to come or my Dad being in a good enough mood to get me a couple of packets from the Newsagents on his way to work. I am lucky enough to be working at the moment so that will take care of the financial side of things, hopefully they still cost 10 pence a packet. The only thing I need to think about is; do I send my Niece Nia or Nephew Tomos in to buy them for me? Not wanting the person behind the counter wondering why a grown man is buying a stupid amount of packets of football stickers.
So, when I open a packet and pick out my first Cymru player and stick him in, it will be a fulfillment of a childhood dream. One that I thought had passed me by. All that will be left will be to watch my first Cymru World Cup game, goal, win, knock-out win, Semi Final and Final and Gareth Bale lifting the trophy. Well, a boy can dream!