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I’m a big fan of the classic 1970s sitcom Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, but watching the DVD recently, something interesting caught my eye.
Look at the picture above and you’ll see a particularly eye-catching sports bag. It’s a Puma Roma bag in black with white lettering. This episode dates from 1973, so I’m guessing the bag was in production around that time – but I don’t know anything else.
Does anyone out there know if this bag has been reproduced since then? Or indeed, if it was widely available at the time? All advice gratefully received as I’m very keen to pick one up. It’s a shame Puma don’t bring out some genuinely classic items as opposed to the rather disappointing Puma French 77 range.
The Roma brand (there’s a popular trainer of the same name) may have been around as long as 1960, released in celebration of the Rome Olympics. The JD Sports website confirms the trainers’ release was to coincide with the Olympics but cites their release as 1970. The only thing that may tie these two dates (if it’s not a misprint) is this Michael Winner film http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065757/ The Games; which was released in ’70 and based on the 1960 Rome Games. Perhaps Puma released them after they were commissioned for this film originally?
Have a closer look! This is an ordinary Puma-Bag, modified for television. You can clearly see that this is a fake. Maybe to avoid surreptitious advertising. You can see that the line forming the r out of the p is much to small.
ROMA IS A TYPE OF SHOE MADE BY PUMA, I BET THE OTHER SIDE SAYS PUMA AND ROMA IS JUST ON THAT SIDE, IF NOT IT WAS PROBABLY DONE TO HIDE THE BRAND(WITH SOME WHITE TAPE)
Yeah, the guy above has it right. The BBC were manic about not advertising, covering up labels and cans and bottles on each occasion. This bag has been made over by the props team, but retains the PUMA logo, which would not happen now.