Monday was our last day. As we had our flight back in the afternoon, that morning we had a visit to the offices of Umbro. They are pretty cool, very modern, I do not know … things that freak, like a football table in the middle of a cafe, I would spend there all morning without working!

They have also kept the original office of the founder, Harold Humphreys, with a pile of press clippings of those times. I really liked the area in which the crests of the top teams who wear the brand were shown: England, Manchester City, Santos, and among them, Athletic Club.
Helene was the person who attended and explained the whole history of the brand from its origins in 1924. She told us that the Brazil team of 1958, the 1966 England world champions, the Liverpool European supremacy in the 70′s or Manchester United’s treble in 1999 were made under the brand Umbro. We saw all these shirts and many more displayed on mannequins, from the oldest to the most recent, signed by Wayne Rooney on the chest.

It was also cool the photos of an advertising campaign with models of different countries on kits with the colours of their country. Many of them are real girlfriends of players like Forlan, Crouch and someone else. You can freak out with the photos!

It was about time to say goodbye but when we collected our things to leave the airport, Helene noticed a bag of Nike boots that I had bought the previous day. So she joked a bit and asked if I preferred that brand to Umbro. Well, I told her, the truth is that the store had no other model to suit my shoe size. She laughed and told me to wait a bit and that maybe I was lucky.
At this moment she came back with a pair of Umbro Speciali boots personalized with the name of John Terry, captain of Chelsea and England, one of my favourite players. “They’re for you,” he says and as I was almost shaking me I could nothing but whisper, “Dad, John Terry wears the same size as me!” Thank you Helene!


Back on the plane, my second flight, already a veteran, I kept thinking about all the things we had lived this weekend. At this point it only remains for me to thank Athletic and Umbro for all the attention devoted to us, to all the people we met these days, to my Dad who accompanied me and my Mum who stayed at home. But especially to my sister Ane, who insisted on filling the voucher thinking with the premonition I was going be the winner.
Thank you very much.











