Unattainable Goal

The name of every England, World Cup goalscorer from 1950 - 2010 on a football stud.

Early in 2010, as a huge sport fan, I was eagerly anticipating the World Cup to be held in South Africa that summer. Having realized that it was then exactly 60 years since the England team had first been accepted into the competition in 1950 I conducted a little research into all the goal scorers for England in the 14 World Cup tournaments to date.

There were 36. I decided there and then I would mark the occasion with a special piece dedicated to the tournament and England's involvement.

I was anxious to select an engraving subject that would be as close to the heart of my subject as possible. The choice seemed obvious. The studs on the bottom of every football players boots penetrate more deeply into any Word Cup tournament than anything else, sinking into the turf with every step, at the fore-front of every tackle and most importantly, striking every goal.

As you know, I always strive to make my projects as seemingly 'unattainable' as possible. With this in mind I also decided to add the iconic 3 Lions Emblem to the stud and arrange the goalscorer names around it. The concept for 'Unattainable Goal' was set.

Delaying the start of this piece was important to me as I knew there would be additional names to complete the 60 year list of goalscorers after the 2010 tournament. Thankfully there were 3 more names to add, Steven Gerrard, Jermaine Defoe and Matthew Upson.

So the challenge before me was to engrave the 3 Lions emblem and all 38 goalscorer names on the head of a football stud.

The long dark nights I spent working on 'Unattainable Goal' gave me plenty of time to reflect on the icons of English football. Names like Nat Lofthouse, Stan Mortenson and Tom Finney. If only we could transport them through time and watch them play alongside the greats of today. Another 'Unattainable Goal'.