Video by Alex Shute
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 [SILENCE]
00:25 Could you introduce yourself please?
00:27 My name is Mark Silver and I am the CEO and founder for Murals.
00:31 So tell us more about what we're looking at today. How has this come about?
00:35 So originally I've got a young lad, Keaton, who lives in the area and he contacted me and said
00:42 he wants to learn a bit more about street art, can we help, can we advise?
00:45 And I invited him to come on a few projects with us up in Liverpool.
00:49 So he come and watched how we do it and the process and we've kept in touch.
00:52 And then he contacted me a good year and a half ago and said, look, just to let you know,
00:57 I've contacted Horsforth Football Club, see if they're interested in doing anything with you.
01:00 I want you to repay the favour, which was very kind, very nice of him.
01:04 We got into conversations and we started talking about potential mural spots
01:08 and then it just didn't happen, nothing evolved for different reasons.
01:11 And then out of the blue, got contacted by Donald from the Supporters Trust,
01:18 saying that we'd like to do a project together with you in the football club.
01:22 Would you be interested? And that's where the conversation started and it's evolved
01:26 backwards and forwards a little bit on the design, not too much.
01:29 And then here we are today.
01:31 And tell us more about how the players were chosen.
01:34 Well, that's the best bit about it, because normally when you do these kind of things,
01:37 you're always going to get someone that says, why did you do this? Why didn't you do that one?
01:40 Which I completely get, but everyone's got different opinions.
01:44 This is done by fans vote. So ultimately the fans have chosen.
01:47 It doesn't really matter. Ultimately, it wasn't down to us, it's down to the fans.
01:51 And these are the ones that they've chosen. I think that in general, everyone coming down here,
01:55 I haven't had too many people saying that this one should have been on there.
01:59 There's a couple that have been named, but no one's saying in replacement of.
02:02 So I think everyone seems to be really happy with the selection.
02:05 Yeah, it's certainly a solid six for the wall, for sure.
02:09 Yeah, I think so. They've all got their own stories and reasons to be on there.
02:12 And tell us more about the process of doing this, because it wasn't just yourself.
02:16 You have a whole team that come down and do this with you.
02:19 Yeah, that's right. So every artist has a different way of getting it all marked up, really.
02:23 So what we've done was we come down here at Easter Sunday, completely forgetting that the clocks go forward.
02:28 So like, it's up a little bit. But the plan was that we were going to project the image up on the wall,
02:34 just draw the outline in, which saves us a lot of planning for the next day.
02:37 But we started marking it up. We do a grid form. Some people do a doodle grid.
02:42 So we started doing that. We spent about half an hour, 40 minutes on Sunday, late afternoon, early evening.
02:47 And then came back here yesterday morning at eight o'clock in the morning, started cracking through.
02:52 We had all types of weather while we were doing it. But generally the weather was on our side.
02:57 And yeah, by about five o'clock, we were completely finished.
03:00 Well, the weather isn't with us today. However, you did get it done before the heavens opened.
03:05 And it is looking incredible. So it's an incredible piece of work.
03:10 Have you got a ticket for the game? Are you staying for the game?
03:13 No, I'm not actually. It's a sellout tonight. It would have been nice to stick around.
03:17 But unfortunately, I've got to head back up to Liverpool. We're doing a project up there.
03:21 Generally, a lot of our work is up there. But it's nice to come south down.
03:25 But yeah, I've got to drive straight up there from here. So hopefully the Pompey win.
03:29 And hopefully this has helped inspire them a little bit.
03:31 Pompey fan for a day. Score prediction against Derby?
03:34 I think there's going to be a nice 2-0 win. And then they're not there exactly, but they're pretty close.
03:41 So yeah, play up Pompey.
03:42 Awesome. Thank you very much.
03:43 You're welcome.
03:44 Can you introduce yourself, please?
03:46 Hi, I'm Keaton. I'm one of the artists here at Meriwold.
03:49 And I understand you were involved in the organisation of this mural and how it even came to be in the first place.
03:57 So tell us a little bit more about that.
03:58 Yeah, so I was fortunate enough to get invited to go up to Liverpool and help, well, almost witness all the other artists paint at Anfield Stadium.
04:07 And then at that point, I sort of got introduced to Meriwold and all of the work that they do.
04:12 And I'm the only artist part of Meriwold based down here in the south.
04:16 Most people are up north, London, you know, Liverpool.
04:20 And I thought I had a few contacts and I thought it'd be great to do something in my hometown,
04:25 especially the club that I grew up watching.
04:28 I've actually got a mate in first team at the moment.
04:31 So it's amazing to be able to do something in my hometown.
04:35 And so tell us a bit more about how this came to be.
04:41 Who were the, what were the phone calls you had to make?
04:43 Who did you have to speak to?
04:45 Who did you put in front of the right person to make this a reality?
04:48 Yes, so I've got a couple of friends in Portsmouth City Council.
04:52 And I mentioned to them what I was doing with Meriwold.
04:56 And they said that they could get help me get in touch with the marketing guy at Fountain Park.
05:02 And so I got in touch with them.
05:04 We had a few conversations back and forth and then it got passed on to the supporters trust.
05:09 We knew that they wanted to do something.
05:12 And it sort of like grew from there really.
05:15 The marketing guy at Portsmouth mentioned it to the supporters trust.
05:20 [Sounds of fire]
05:32 Obviously in terms of the players that are featured on the mural, do you think that the list is solid?
05:37 Are you happy with the list or would you add any other players?
05:42 I think you can't really argue with who's on the wall because it was put down to the fans.
05:46 It was a fans vote and I feel like that was the best way to make sure that everyone that was meant to be on the wall got on the wall.
05:54 Because if you put it down to the local people, they're going to be the ones seeing it day to day.
05:59 And they got to choose who would go up there.
06:01 So no, I think it's a perfect match.
06:03 Who's on there and who got to be chosen as a legend.
06:06 Perfect. Well, thank you very much for your perseverance.
06:09 I know this wasn't a quick process, but you got there in the end.
06:13 And I know that the unveiling is going to be happening in about an hour's time.
06:18 So well done and enjoy the evening.
06:21 Thank you.
06:23 We were on there, I think.
06:26 It's a huge game tonight.
06:29 [Crowd noise]
06:35 [Crowd noise]
07:01 So today's the day the mural has been unveiled.
07:04 How does it feel being part of this artwork at Brampton Park?
07:08 Yeah, no, I mean, it's fantastic to have been, first of all, to have been voted in to be on the wall with the other five Pompei legends for one of the battle wars.
07:20 So that's a great honour and a fantastic bit of artwork as well from the lads from the old war.
07:27 So, yeah, I mean, very impressive. Just a shame about the weather today.
07:32 Yeah, it didn't hold out for us, but it looks incredible.
07:35 Are there any other names you'd like to see maybe added in the future?
07:39 I think there's...
07:41 As a fan of Portsmouth as well as a legend.
07:44 As a fan and also some former teammates, one or two that come to mind.
07:49 Macca comes to mind, obviously.
07:53 Mickey Kennedy and a few of those lads.
07:56 But obviously former managers would be a nice touch as well.
08:00 Anyone that jumps out, any names?
08:03 For me, we'd obviously go start from Frank Burrows through to Alan Gould, Jim Smith, Bobby Campbell and the like.
08:11 And obviously Harry Ridner. I mean, look, I just don't think we've got enough walls.
08:17 No, we're going to have to start building some.
08:20 It would be nice if a few others at some stage somewhere could be added because it's a great honour.
08:27 Well, that, I mean, it looks amazing and it's nice to have this high quality artwork to admire every time you come to the park.
08:36 So, that's a little bit of a turn-up.
08:38 It definitely does. It tidies things up as well.
08:41 Which is not less than a bow. It looks fantastic.
08:46 And obviously an important game tonight. Score predictions?
08:51 A tight game. I think I've won one. Obviously I'd like to win.
08:58 I was a bit controversial earlier when I think I said on Sky that it wouldn't be the end of the world to lose.
09:05 But that isn't obviously in the mentality of anyone.
09:10 So, I think a draw. And I think it probably could suit both teams.
09:15 But I do think the weather conditions will have a big thing.
09:20 It seems to be getting worse, not any better.
09:22 It's not going to get any better than that.
09:24 No doubt the lads will be prepared.
09:25 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, you are a support for us. That's something you have to contend with.
09:32 Well, listen, thank you very much for talking to us and hopefully a very exciting game to look forward to.
09:38 I'm sure it will be.
09:39 Thank you very much.