Gordon Banks
In 2006 Mullan published a boyhood memoir entitled 'Gordon Banks - A Hero Who Could Fly' in which he outlines the extraordinary influence for good that Gordon Banks, the 1966 England World Cup winning goalkeeper, had on his life. Gordon Banks travelled to Ireland to launch the book. Consequently Mullan and Banks became close friends. Through Banks' Stoke City FC colleague, Terry Conroy, Mullan was introduced to sculptor Andrew Edwards. Edwards, Carl Payne and Julian Jeffery created the triple statue honouring the Stoke City and England legendary winger, Sir Stanley Matthews. Mullan travelled all over England in a quest to find a sculptor to help him create the first monument in the Western World to a goalkeeper. This included viewing several of the sporting monuments of Sir Philip Jackson. None moved him like the Matthews monument.
Mullan created the Gordon Banks Monument Committee who commissioned Edwards to do a triple statue of Banks. Of Edwards Mullan said, "He is a genius. He has the ability to breathe life into bronze. He's an unrecognised national treasure and through the Banks monument - I hope to change that!" Mullan was successful in getting the iconic Brazilian soccer star, Pelé, and his longstanding friend, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, to agree to unveil the first phase of the monument at the Britannia Stadium on 12 July 2008. The unveiling also included a Gordon Banks XI vs. Pelé XI celebrity charity football match, with Tutu acting as assistant manager to Pelé.
The game celebrated the choice of South Africa and Brazil for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
Read more about this topic: Don Mullan
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