O'Mahony, M. (2017). The art of goalkeeping: memorialising Lev Yashin. Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics, 20(5- 6), 641-659. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2016.1158481 Peer reviewed version License (if available): Unspecified Link to published version (if available): 10.1080/17430437.2016.1158481 Link to publication record in Explore Bristol Research PDF-document This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Taylor & Francis at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17430437.2016.1158481 University of Bristol - Explore Bristol Research General rights This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/red/research-policy/pure/user-guides/ebr-terms/ The Art of Goalkeeping: Memorializing Lev Yashin Mike O'Mahony (History of Art, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom)
[email protected] Lev Yashin remains, in the eyes of many, the greatest goalkeeper ever to have played the game of football. Since his death in 1990, coinciding with the dying days of the Soviet Union, his legacy has played an important role in post-Soviet history, a factor that is gaining more importance as Russia prepares to host the 2018 World Cup tournament. Yashin’s memory is notably being maintained in the public perception not least through the material form of two key sculptures erected in Moscow in the late 1990s. Yet these works, part of a wider international trend to memorialize footballers in the form of public monuments, offer more than a unique insight into Yashin’s career, status and reputation.