Anyone need a swapsie ?
- 19 Jun 06, 11:05 AM
COLOGNE Because 69-year-old Frau Betz has well over a million football stickers - and it looked like almost as many left to swap. We went and filmed her last week for a piece for Match of the Day and we've been talking about little else since.
When we saw a local newspaper cutting that she had all these football stickers we couldn't believe she had that many, but when we tracked her down it was even better than we'd hoped. Her collection goes right back to the 1930's, but the one we liked the most had to be the album of the 1966 World Cup. The stickers were more like postcards back then, but it was in beautiful conidtion. When Gasker's interviewed her, we were soon into the familiar debate about did the ball cross the line - with Frau Betz having us in stitches with her refusal to accept the loss.
Perhaps the most staggering discovery was her cellar - with shoebox after shoebox packed with swapsies. I remember that when i used to collect the stickers you'd always end up with numerous Scotland badges - but this was on an altogether different scale. Apparently, even the football sticker companies get in touch with her if they need old ones - so if you need the Bryan Robson picture from World Cup 82 to finally complete your album there might still be just a glimmer of hope !
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Excellent topic,however, how can one get in contact with her to discuss the aforementioned swapsies? I have a Usa 94,Italia90 album with a few holes in and seeing this article has given me the encouragment to contine doing them!!!!!
Keep on with the excellent blogs guys....
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Me Too!! Please provide any contact details for this marvellous woman - I have gaps in USA 94 and France 98 Albums and would dearly love to complete these. Cheers
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Oh man this takes me back! I saw it on 大象传媒 and was utterly stunned! I'd love to get in contact with her, have all the World Cup albums from Mexico 86 and would love to fill it up properly, especially by getting Diego Armando Maradona from the 86 album (I swapped it with two other stickers cos my mate wanted it to finish the Argentina team, never again!).
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Splendid - took me right back to being a nine-year old cub and spending an extra tip I got from someone during Bob-A-Job Week on two packets of Argentina 78 stickers! Only ever finished one book (Football 79) and must have spent the equivalent of the Gross National Product of Brazil on stickers in the late 70s and early 80s - happy innocent days!
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Was this the same interview in which the said collector was mocked repeatedly for the '66 world cup final? Very professional...
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Matthew:
That must have an eye-opening interview.
Collecting stickers brings back so many great memories. I wrote about my addiction to Panini stickers in the . If you get a chance to read it, it's a free download.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
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On an unrelated subject, but as the MoD producer, I have a query on the 大象传媒i highlights package for Group H this evening (19 June).
Every previous evening I've enjoyed 15 minutes per match of highlights, and, given the tremendous two games today from Group H, I was anticipating the same.
You can imagine my disappointment to see only 5 minutes of Ukraine v Saudi followed by 10 minutes of Spain v Tunisia, two of the best five games of the tournament so far.
I presume it a resource issue for tonight, but would like to know if there will be 15 minutes highlights of EACH match on 大象传媒i tomorrow, as normal?
Thanks
Will
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Hi Will. We're roving all over so not involved in doing the highlight. Paul Atherton or Paul Armstrong on the blog will be able to tell you better about when to get the 15 mins highlights of each match.
As regards swapsies, you could try writing to Frau Betz in Recklinghausen (name of village in Germany) - I'd write in German as she doesn't speak English and she has got loads of people writing to her so she may not reply - but it's worth a punt to finsh off those World Cup albums. Good luck !
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Have to agree with nerdboy here, I thought the mocking interviewer was pathetically condescending. How many World Cups have Germany won?
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Hi everybody,
Maybe Frau Betz could be interested. I launched an internet site to facilate them to find and to echange the Panini stickers. It is ready now in English and in German. The previous version was in French.
I will be glade if Frau Betz connect the site :)
If you would like to have a look on it, use this link
Cheers,
Erdogan
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where r the stickers that u need , i might heve some?u never know?
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