Blue Cavern

I'm trying to find info on a set a couple of people have offered me over the years. Apparently, I bought it a few times, but now realize not all are the same. I'm wondering what actually comprises a full, complete set. I'm talking about the 1982 soccer championship promo signholder smurfs/flags.

Were these distributed with Smurfs, without Smurfs, or with only one Smurf per set? I have been offered the flags for sale with no smurf, or one smurf only...Is that how they were distributed?

If there was a Smurf, was it just the plain signholder Smurf, or was it on a smurf-a-gram? One dealer told me the Smurf was on a gram (red, green or yellow). Were these unprinted bases, or are they the ones reading "Recuerdo de ANDALUCIA" (green), "EUSKADI zuretzat" (red), and "D'una estada a CATALUNYA" (yellow)?

As you can see, I have lots of questions

One dealer told me the 26 flags are the 24 Countries playing, with 2 flags being extra souvenirs. I mixed his set up with later sets I bought, so now I'm not sure what is an original set. I have 29 different world flags. Does anyone have a pic of only the world flags that should be in this set? I also have a few sets that are identical, but all missing the same flag - three stripes stacked one on top of the other:

BLUE STRIPE
WHITE STRIPE
BLUE STRIPE

I don't know what this flag is, or why I only have one of them. Does anyone know? I also have a flag not shown on another dealer's pic of the set; it has a blue triangle at the left end, with the remainder if the flag split lengthwise into two regions; white on top of red.

I also have flags with words, I think from the same year, some political convention I think. They read:

"JO (heart) CDC"
"SOM UNA NACIO"
"CONVERGENCIA UNIO Molts i ben avinguts"
"JO (frankfurter) LA LOAPA"

Or maybe one of them goes with the Soccer set, not sure. Can someone help me sort this out? Please?

Hi Pete

Not sure the exact answers here.. but here's my 2c worth and hopefully others will add to it. I have only the smurf with the scottish flag, but here is a link to Marjo smurfs who have had the set of flags for sale (looks like without smurf included) for a while.

http://www.smurfscorner.tk/ its a java site so you have to look under "smurfy wannahaves" under the "smurf shop" menu and click next 5-6 times.. and you'll see this piccy.



cheers
Daryl

I have this set at home but I don't know the origins though...would love to hear about them if anyone knows.

I've got this set. I bought them as just flags to fit into my signbearer smurfs. The set came with 26 country flags and 4 other flags saying - well I'm not sure what LOL. I presume they are spanish, as spain were the hosts of the 1982 world cup that year.

you can see them at my website: http://www.nationalfriends.co.uk/promos.htm

The one with the triangle on the left is th flag of Chechoslowakia (or whatever spelling you English speaking people used). Blue-white-blue is (I think) Argentina.

I don't know if this helps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_World_Cup

The countries of all the flags are listed on my website

I have got "almost" the same set as Steve. Only one flag is different.

I'm not sure if my comment will help at all, but I'll say it anyway (you can always blame me later): Catalunia and Andalucia were never qualified as individual teams for any world cup whatsoever... and clearly these two flags appear in both our sets.

Steve on your page, you have a signbearer on a "Andalucia" stand holding en English flag: I do not believe this ever existed as a real release: The reason why I am saying this is because I got caught by a seller in Germany who got very creative by mixing the flags and selling me the same signbearer on a green Andalucia stand with a german flag. Again I do not believe this was ever a proper release.

Yeah, I know that the Andelucia with an english flag didn't exist David..it's just me being creative I am interested in which flag you have differently as I trawled my flag books and the internet and came up with the list of countries..then when I checked them against world cup for that year..they matched EXACTLY. Which one do you have different?

Thank you all for your help. I think together we can clear this up a bit...

I made a mistake, I have 28 Country flags, not 29. Daryl, the image you show from smurfscorner.tk is the very same set of 28 Country flags I have, plus the "JO (heart) CDC" flag is in that display too.

It's my understanding that the 4 flags with text ("JO (heart) CDC," "JO (frankfurter) LA LOAPA," "CONVERGENCIA I UNIO Molts i ben avinguts.," and "SOM UNA NACIO" are (and I quote a dealer, from April 2004):

"convention party flags from the catalunya party, like the republikan party in the states. They are very strong at the area from Barcelona (65-80%). They are a political party and they very national and more for their region (Catalunya) than for spain. On the flags, they show their opinion about new laws from the spain government"

They are shown at Steven Parkes' site: http://www.nationalfriends.co.uk/promos.htm

Re: my extra flags, the one with the blue triangle is indeed Czech Republic. (Also shown at Steven's - who ID's 26 flags, a big help!) but the other is still a mystery. Fram guessed Argentina, but that flag has a sun in the center. I have Argentina too, but the mystery flag is just a blue-white-blue triband, with nothing else. Steven does show it, but calls it El Salvador. I don't think that's right; El Salvador also has a little something in the center.

So Steven shows 26 Country Flags on his page. I know of 2 more flags. He is missing a green-white-green triband, and another flag with 9 alternating horizontal stripes; 5 yellow and 4 red. I don't know what Countries they are.

I have another dealer offering me a 28 flag set, but he is missing the same two flags I am missing in many sets; the Czech Republic and the mystery blue-white-blue triband. Instead, this dealer's set includes "JO (heart) CDC" (the convention sign) and the regular black/white sign that came with the WG version of the signholder Super Smurf - a white sign with a border of clubs (different from the HK versions signs).

I also have three promo signbearer Smurf-a-grams, and I think maybe some of their flags got mixed in with my world soccer set. There is a green gram reading "Recuerdo de ANDALUCIA" holding the Andalucia flag (green-white-green triband), a red gram reading "EUSKADI zuretzat" holding what Steven calls a Basque flag, but if you search google for "euskadi flag" you find much the same flag (red field with white cross and green "x"). And there is a yellow gram reading "D'una estada a CATALUNYA" holding a Catalunya flag (4 red stripes alternate with 5 yellow stripes).

Oh, I'm just so confused. It seems as if dofferent sets of flags have been passed as the same World Cup flag set. I guess Steven's list of Countries should reveal what the real set should be.

I don't think the 4 convention flags belong with the soccer world flags, but they were distributed at the same time in the same country. One of them; "JO (heart) CDC" I received one of with each flag set, so maybe it was distributed with both the flag set, and the convention set?

XoioX2000, what does your odd flag look like?

Steven, where did you find a list of the Countries in the 1982 soccer world cup?

Euskadi = Basque, they are the same.

And you don't know the 5 yellow with four reds, but a bit lower, you describe it yourself: Catalunya! You can see it at Barcelona games all the time.

I got my list from Wikipedia, the flags match the 1982 world cup teams EXACTLY!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_World_Cup_1982

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Cup_Teams

Re: the el salvador flag pete, if you go to google images and type in 'el salvador flag' and search the results you will indeed find a flag that is just blue white blue with nothing in the centre. Aparently it is the civil flag of El Salvador.

The red/yellow horizontal stripes one is catalonia.

Fram, as I was writing that post, I was trying to ID the flags online...I didn't know Catalunya when I started, but figured it out later...

Euskadi=Basque, I did not know that, thank you!

Re: the El Salvador flag, I saw that one too, but I thought it was an older version of the flag or something.

I'm off to Wikipedia to see the list of Countries

You guys really helped clear this up for me, thanks!

I'll dig the different flag I have, From looking at the pic yesterday it was a tri-band if I remember right, but I forgot which color.

I'll check it out...

So..at least I now know I am missing 2 flags - the search continues

That link to Wikipedia was a big help, sorry I didn't look there earlier when Karen (Or is it Kathy? ) posted it...

OK, that clearly showed who the 24 teams are. I understand now many flags have a "civil" version, and a version with a govt. seal or other insignia on it. That's why I had trouble ID'ing some flags.

I have 28 world flags. 24 are the Countries that played in the 1982 World Cup. 3 of the remainder are the flags from the Catalunya, Euskadi & Andalucia signholder promo grams. I have a hunch they don't belong in the set? The last flag I have is a Britain flag, and I haven't a clue where that comes from.

Steven, I see your site shows the British flag, And the Euskadi flag, but does not show the andalucia or catalunya flags. (you don't claim they go together or anything, I'm just trying to sort this out for myself, because I'd like to offer my extra sets for sale, and want to know what I am offering.)

A dealer currently offering them to me has all three of the gram flags in his "WC set," plus the "JO (heart) CDC" political sign, and the regular super smurf sign. His set lacks Czechoslovakia and El Salvador. Both of those Contries were in the WC, so his set is no doubt incomplete.

A dealer I bought them from a while back told me the 26 flags in his set "are the 24 countries you have been played in this championship. 2 flags are extra souvinirs." Unfortunately, I mixed his set with the rest, so I don't know which 2 he claimed were extra.

For now, I'm content with calling the 24 Country flags only from the 82 WC the "World Cup Flag Set." Andalucia, Euskadi and Catalunya go with those promo signholder grams, and the 4 text signs are the political set.

The only mystery left is where did this British flag come from? And did the political and WC sets come with a Smurf?

Thanks to all for your 2 cents!!

That link to Wikipedia was a big help, sorry I didn't look there earlier when Karen (Or is it Kathy? ) posted it...

Ur..that was me who posted it Pete (unless Karen posted it before me).

Okay, so I have the 3 Andelucia, Eskaudi and Catalunya flags missing.

I just wondered about that British flag too Pete..wonder why that is in there??

Hi,

A while ago I was able to acquire about 20 of these sets and these all had exactly the same combination of flags. When I started asking where they came from I was told they were promotional gifts of the 1982 FIFA world championship in Spain. As I was a little kiddo back then I collected the panini stickers of the WC and still have that book so I checked and it was perfect. All the flags belonged to countries playing that year. The flags of the 3 Spanish provinces (or old nations like in former Yougoslavia) were of those provinces where the stadiums of the two semi finals and final were located of that WC. And the flag with the heart is of the sponsor of this set.

The British flag is a bit of a riddle but it could be historical. Great Britain is seen as the birthplace of present day soccer and the league was founded in 1888. The name soccer was first mentioned in Oxfor in the early 1880's so it might be that the flag stands for 100 year of modern soccer. Don't know for sure but sounds logical.



Dennis

Steve, Karen mentioned it soon after I started the thread, b4 you, but I didn't try it until you posted it.

Cool Dennis! So you got this set as a kid? And it was just as you show it, with 29 flags?

So that's the 24 participating countries, the 3 provinces hosting games, 1 sponsor flag and the mystery British flag?

Was there a Smurf sold with them? I'm wondering if these are really even Smurf promos - maybe Schleich just provided signs, in which case, I would call it a fake to purport that these go with a Smurf collection...

So now I wonder, is the "I (heart) CDC" part of the convention set or not? What does the "CDC" mean? Is that from the World Cup set, the convention set, or both?