Caricatures & Sketches

Back in the days before social media and instant replays on your mobile devices, people like you and I had to imagine what the game looked like if you weren't there watching at the ground. Now, anyone can find an image of any sporting athlete within an instant with a quick google search or looking at their MyFace - Twit - Insta - Tikity Toks.

So, back in 'day when photographs still took time to develop before being inserted into newspapers, the Press turned to artist impressions of football matches and sketches of new signings or footballing stars to insert into the days match reports. Here we will look at the many examples of how match reports turned visual and some drawing of local football celebrities.

In Wigan's case, the Wigan Examiner turned to a local artist in the 1920s and 1930s called James M. Gannon, who signed his works simply as 'Gannon'. He caricatured players and officials and drew cartoon-styled depictions of Wigan matches. Often, the Athletic News would lead their weekly publication with cartoons of leading sporting events from the previous weekend to add a visual and sometimes humorous flair to their reporting.