Internatonal results, the FA Cup, Christmas shopping and more GKHero projects

I’m sat writing this week’s blog at the end of a busy week of football here in the UK. I think that every conceivable viewpoint on the result and performance has been made and countered following England’s friendly victory over the Spanish world and European champions, and I don’t think I can add anything to what has already been voiced by the nation’s pundits and ‘experts’. It’s a shame that all of the debate over the relevance over the England game overshadowed the attention afforded to Wales’ convincing triumph over Norway; and the FA’s dispute with FIFA over England’s adorning of the poppy took at least some of the limelight the Irish lads deserved for their demolition of Estonia, as well as Scotland for their win in Cyprus.

In addition to the international fixtures, this weekend also saw the return of the First Round Proper of the biggest domestic competition in the world, the FA Cup. Whilst this is when the competition kicked off in earnest in many peoples’ eyes, the fact is that the Cup’s first matches were played way back in the second and third weeks of August. In fact, August was when my Club started this season’s FA Cup journey, and unfortunately it was also where it ended following a defeat away to higher-league opposition. One club that has fared somewhat better is one of my former clubs, Oxford City, who secured their place in the second round draw following a 0-0 draw away to Redbridge. The prize awaiting them if they’re able to overcome the same opposition in the replay is a visit to League 2 side Crawley Town; who themselves had a terrific run in the competition last season before running Manchester United close in a 1-0 reverse at Old Trafford in the Fifth Round. Whilst Crawley probably didn’t represent most peoples’ definition of underdogs due to their reported financial backing and management, there’s no doubt that they themselves will be the subject of a relative giant-killing, and I’d be made up if it were at the hands of my former teammates.

A quick review of our sales this week shows that our sales of junior sizes have seen a significantly marked increase, which, as well as keeping us busy, has heaped plenty of guilt on me as I’ve given no thought to Christmas presents yet! The response to our special offer on HPG’s models has been fantastic, and I’m pleased that this has given loads of keepers an opportunity to experience HPG for the first time. The only adverse, but inevitable, effect has been that we’re now pretty much sold out with the exception of a few size 7s.

Sales are a massive part of GKHero and they are vital to enabling the business to progress, but, unlike other retailers, it isn’t the only part. GKHero is quickly expanding into new areas and I’m continually working on new projects and ventures to drive GKHero toward becoming an integral part of the professional and grass-roots goalkeeping community.

Regular Brainwaves readers will be well-aware of GKHeroTV. The interest and level of response has been really pleasing for me, and today I have been in contact with everyone who successfully applied to be part of the project to offer them their first products to review. If you’re interested in joining our team, take a look at our invitation, and drop us a line. I’m keen to get a broad mix of reviewers, and we’re particularly interested to hear from female keepers, and keepers based outside of the UK.

This week also saw an agreement which will see GKHero providing matchday polo shirts for a non-league club’s players and officials. I also received an email from, and subsequently enjoyed some really positive exchanges with, a goalkeeping academy looking for their own branded kit and accessories for their coaches and keepers.

On the product front, I received contact from a relatively new South American company, and I expect to have a couple of their glove ranges in stock in January or February. I can’t say any more at present, other than ‘watch this space’!

That’s about it for this week. As always, please feel free to get in touch through any of our many channels now open.

Chris