How Silhoubrations Began
The Full Story
One quiet Sunday, I was sat with my 10-year-old son watching the football, hoping that any conversation between us would be more than one-word replies to a very open question. The truth being, we hadn’t connected properly in months. I'm not sure whether it was a consequence of my demanding job but our bond was certainly not what it used to be. Five minutes before half time, there was a goal in the football. My son jumped up doing the “Suuuuuiii” celebration even though it wasn’t Ronaldo who scored. My son then asked me a question - " didn't they celebrate goals when you were young?". I mentioned the likes of Ravenelli, Klinnsmann, Babayaro... the blank look on his face said it all.
At half-time, I switched the channel to “Matt Le Tissier’s Top 10 Goals.” He wandered off, then returned with a sandwich and sat beside me. We ended up chatting about strikers from my youth like Voller, Kempes, Schillaci, McCoist. By the time we were called for tea, we’d talked more than we had in six months. It felt amazing! - we never watched the second half of the match.
The following Saturday morning, he scored for his local boys team. To my amazement, he didn't celebrate as Mbappe or Messi - he celebrated like Alan Shearer, against Netherlands in Euro 96. All the parents were commenting about it.
That summer, for our family holiday to Spain, I made a T-shirt of the silhouette of Shearer's celebration just for fun, my son absolutely loved it (apart from he thought it was him and not big Al). Whilst we were away, a fellow Brit who I'd seen around the pool with his family asked me about it and where we got it from. I told him it was homemade, and I told him about how it came to be.
A few days later, he found me at the bar and said, “After seeing that silhouette, my son asked to watch Shearer’s goals with me. We ordered pizza, watched YouTube, and after a couple of hours he said, ‘I really enjoyed spending time with you, learning about your heroes.’”
That’s when it clicked. Silhoubrations aren’t just T-shirts. They’re story-starters!
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