SD on 9/12/2006 at 21:35

---

It all started on Monday when I was bored in work.

The news that my beloved Liverpool Football Club were going to be purchased by the Arabs of Dubai for £450m had caused divided opinion amongst the fanbase. Some thought the Arab investment would help Liverpool to become the greatest team in the world again; others insisted that the impending sale was a betrayal of Liverpool's heritage, or were decidedly uneasy about flogging the club to a group of people who were fond of racing children on camels and who had amassed their great wealth through the use of a virtual slave workforce of immigrant labourers.

Believe it or not, TTLG isn't the only forum I post on. I also frequent the forums of (http://217.199.172.89/tlw/forum/) The Liverpool Way, a club fanzine. Nowhere was the divide more evident than TLW, and tensions were running pretty high.

Never one to enjoy conflict (stop laughing), I figured a funny cartoon would lighten the mood a little. After nary 10 minutes with Google Image Search and Microsoft Paint, I came up with this HILARIOUS image of "Liverpool FC's new Home Kit!":

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/DannyClein/TLW/Niqab_small.png

You see, it's a Muslim niqab in the club colours, emblazoned with the club's logo and the logo of their kit manufacturer, adidas :joke:

Okay, it's not the funniest picture in the world, or the best-constructed, but it was worth a chuckle or two if you're into football. I posted a (http://217.199.172.89/tlw/forum/showthread.php?t=40014) thread with the image I'd made. Half a dozen people were moved enough to reply and I thought no more of it.

On Wednesday afternoon I overheard two of my colleagues talking about a funneh email they'd just got, containing a picture of "Liverpool FC's new kit". Sure enough, it was my image, and on checking the email, I could see it had already been forwarded at least half a dozen times.

This is probably really sad, but it's a long time since I felt as proud as I did then. Somehow, something I'd created in my lunch break had spread through dozens of offices all over the land, and ended up with the girl who sits next to me and the guy sitting opposite. I always wondered who created these viral images, and now I know: bored dudes on Internet. If I'd known it would be seen by so many people, I'd have done a less slapdash job on it.

Like all good stories, it doesn't end there. Flicking through today's Daily Mirror newspaper (circulation: 1,638,000), what did I spot on page 81? My picture accompanying the lead article of the paper's popular "Predator" column. I was gobsmacked.

I was on the way to my parents' anyway, cos I was going to the game with my dad and his mate who lives in Leeds, so of course the first thing I did was to announce to them that something I'd drawn had ended up in a national newspaper. "You drew that?", said my astonished father. And it only turns out that my dad's mate from Leeds had received the picture from a guy he plays five-a-side footy with, and had sent the picture to my dad on the Tuesday. The mind boggles!

Now I'm wondering where this picture will crop up next. Maybe it'll circle around the bowels of Internet forever. What a very small world we live in.

Para?noid on 9/12/2006 at 21:40

---

IN BEFORE SCOTS TAFFER!!!!! LAL

what i'm trying to say is that you did a fill operation after you put the antialiased black circles in so it hasn't filled correctly and you can see the white edges

Aerothorn on 9/12/2006 at 21:52

---

Congrats!

SD on 9/12/2006 at 21:58

---

The internet forum is purely incidental to the story, I assure you.

Stitch on 9/12/2006 at 22:02

---

SOMEBODY POSTED SOMETHING SINCERE QUICK TEAR IT DOWN

I can't tell if I need a break from this place or if the rest of you do.