While certain men, regardless of age (or frame), will refuse to admit defeat in their quest to score the winning goal in a Wembley cup final or land a knockout punch at Madison Square Garden, the realists among us have long since made peace with the fact our sporting legacy stretches little further than a close-range tap-in during the after-work five-a-side or an impressive ability to sit through four consecutive matches on a Sunday without so much as requiring a toilet break.
And that’s absolutely fine. We can get our sporting kicks elsewhere.
Luckily, for the sports-obsessed here in the UAE, the opportunity to acquire a piece of signed memorabilia which evokes memories of a drunken night celebrating your team’s unexpected (and in some cases, undeserved) success, or transports you back to a particular moment in time, is here courtesy of a UK-born football fanatic who spotted a gap in the market.
And, let’s be honest, anybody who says they haven’t thought about ploughing through the latest smash-hit Netflix series in a robe previously worn by Muhammad Ali, or doing the school run in the iconic number 7 Manchester United shirt made famous by Eric Cantona (with collar up, of course), is lying.
Craig McKelvie created Seventy8 Sports at the start of this year after signing a deal with Liverpool Football Club to become the official retail partner of the English Premier League champions in the Middle East.
Under the Seventy8 Sports umbrella sits The Bootroom Collection, the Middle East’s first sporting memorabilia platform, which is giving sports fans in the region a chance to get that little bit closer to their heroes through exclusive and one-off pieces of merchandise.
“I saw a gap in the market to be able to bring football memorabilia, which has now escalated into other sports, film and music, to the Middle East and we’ve been able to partner with a great brand in Virgin Megastore, which stocks our merchandise,” McKelvie explains.
“It started off with football jerseys from the likes of Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, and then all of a sudden we were able to expand our collection based on the reaction of the consumer.
“Now you can get signed footballs from Roberto Baggio, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, boots from Luis Suarez, Gerrard or Mohamed Salah. We’ve got programmes, we have iconic images such as the Diego Maradona handball goal against Peter Shilton, and from the boxing world items signed by Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather.
“Those items re-live history and take you back to wherever you were in the world at a particular moment in time.”
Fans in the Middle East will not be surprised to learn that one of the most in-demand signatures is that of a certain Egyptian currently starring for Liverpool – but which other players are popular in this part of the world?
“You cannot get enough, in this region, of Mo Salah,” says McKelvie. “Virgil Van Dijk is another popular one from a Liverpool perspective, but you can’t beat the likes of Messi and Ronaldo, they’re obviously the big ones.
“I’ve said this a few times in the past but the biggest seller, if we had him in stock, would be Brian Laudrup. We have been inundated with requests for him. If you took out the likes of Messi and Ronaldo, it would be between Laudrup and Cantona for the biggest seller. Glasgow Rangers have a big following in Dubai, and there’s not a lot of product out in the market, but his name holds a lot of gravitas as a legend with their fans.”
The success of the company so far has been built on trust from consumers based on the authenticity of products, which is proven in a unique and modern way, as McKelvie explains.
“This is what we love about our business. There is always a certificate of authenticity, which is proof of where we’ve purchased it from, and we only use two suppliers. But what we also do, as an extra step, is add a QR code to the plaque. So, for example, we might have an Eric Cantona jersey framed with a plaque which states it’s been personally signed by him, and then to the right of it there will be QR code which, if scanned, will show you the time, date and place, with a video or image of Eric signing the shirt at that specific time.
“That’s why the likes of Virgin have supported us, because consumers in the Middle East know they’re getting a genuine product. We’re all about new ideas and trying to stay one step ahead of the game because we’re a new brand.”
McKelvie also provides some insight into some of the products sports fans in the Middle East can look forward to getting their hands on in the near future, and there will undoubtedly be a big rush when these particular items become available.
“Unfortunately, he is no longer with us, but we do have access to a signed Kobe Bryant Nike boot. It will probably be more of a show piece, because it’s not always about the commercial element but creating a story and celebrating a person’s life.
“We’ve got a Mohammad Ali robe and an Everlast glove which he signed as Cassius Clay, rather than Mohammad Ali. We’ve also got what is probably the most iconic picture of Michael Jordan from when it all started with the Bulls – that famous image of him wearing the red jersey, with the ball in his hand, so keep your eye out in Virgin Megastore for that one.”
Seventy8 Sports launched the first official Liverpool FC store in The Dubai Mall at the end of November 2019 when Luis Garcia, a Champions League-winner with the club in 2005, was in attendance to meet supporters and sign autographs. Exactly one year on, McKelvie looks back on the journey so far and discusses his ambitions to bring Middle East fans closer to the club.
“We launched the Liverpool store on 28th November last year, and we’ve just extended our partnership with the club in the GCC, so it’s an exciting time,” he says.
“The reception from consumers and fans in Dubai and the Middle East has been great. We’ve done some things that you don’t normally do in a retail environment, we’ve created some great animation inside the store where fans can come in and have a photo in front of the “This is Anfield” sign, so we’ve definitely thought about the supporters.
“Our whole ethos and tagline is about bringing Anfield to Dubai, and that’s what we presented to the club when we were given the opportunity to provide our thoughts to them.
“Not everybody in the Middle East will have the opportunity to go to Anfield, so if we can take them one step closer I think we’ve done a fantastic job by allowing them to see a small piece of the club here in the Middle East.”
Which brings us back to the memorabilia, and his all-time favourite piece. Surprisingly, however, it’s not one of his own.
“Something which really sticks out for me, on a personal level, is that I was very lucky to be invited along to Melwood (Liverpool’s former training ground) for my dad’s 60th birthday to meet Kenny Dalglish.
“I’d bought my dad Kenny’s autobiography, and it was actually his 60th in the same year. So we took the book along, opened it up and Kenny signed it for my dad which was amazing.
“Although it’s actually my dad’s, it’s my favourite piece of memorabilia as we got to meet the legend that is Kenny Dalglish. I suppose you could say that’s the Holy Grail.”
***
Visit thebootroomcollection.ae or visit the Liverpool FC club shop at The Dubai Mall.
