Rum, Sodomy and the Lash, or just another AFL pre-season? Its unlikely British folk-punk rockers The Pogues had ever seen a game of footy when they chose to adorn their 1985 record cover with Théodore Géricault’s 19th century masterwork The Raft Of The Medusa, yet the painting could be seen as a parable of our great game. Having been abandoned by their captain following the shipwreck of the Medusa, the tangle of bodies - some barely alive - cling desperately to the deteriorating raft. Will they hang on in the hope that they can be there for the next television broadcast deal? Such is the power of football’s magic that whatever troubles there are off-field will evaporate once the season starts this Friday. Well, maybe.

– Jim Pavlidis.

FOR A FREE HI-RES DOWNLOAD OF THIS POSTER CLICK HERE