Hibs’ ‘famous five’ brought to life in fabulous new bronze sculptures

Leyland sculptor Stephanie Jane Matthews working on her collection of The Famous Five footballers from Hibs in Scotland

The Famous Five of Gordon Smith, Bobby Johnstone, Lawrie Reilly, Eddie Turnbull and Willie Ormond have all been inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.

Now, Hibs director Stephen Dunn has invited Lancashire artist Stephanie to celebrate them.

“It has been a fantastic commission, I have loved every single minute and I am truly grateful for this opportunity to be involved in such a great football club,” she said.

“The Famous Five were truly amazing players and are still a huge part of The Hibs. I feel honoured to have been selected to represent these incredible players! I felt that as I studied each one and started to create them I got a feel of the unique personality which I then aimed to capture within the portrait.

“Stephen visited my studio at Worden Park in Leyland in summer 2022 and complimented my work. He introduced himself as Stephen Dunn and discussed how he was wanting five of the players from 1965 creating as bronze busts. The five players are known as ‘The Famous Five’, all had incredible talent in football and unique personalities.

“I was immensely interested immediately and informed Stephen that it would be something that I would be really interested in. That evening Stephen emailed all the photographs to me of the players, plus their ‘Hall of Fame’ photographs. I studied these, and the following week I had a zoom call with Stephen and we discussed all details.

“The busts I have made for Hibs take two to three months each on my part, then Castle Fine Arts Foundry mould and cast them into bronze."

Stephen, is also a Founding Member and Trustee of the football club’s heritage organisation, the Hibernian Historical Trust and had been considering how to create a lasting tribute to one of the most famous forward lines of the Scottish, if not British, game.

Stephanie started sculpting in 2008 at the University of Central Lancashire while on a Fine Art Degree course.

She said: “I recalled a class in primary school with clay and how much I loved clay back then. So it was 2008 that I got seriously into clay. In life I have always studied people, faces, human behaviour, their characteristics and what makes a person who they are, and also how they portray themselves to others and how others perceive them. The whole essence of a character is in their face and mannerisms, and I love to capture this with my portraiture sculptures. I wanted to use the course to learn as much as I possibly could. All my work was focused on portraiture sculpture, starting with small heads, then working larger.

“My biggest sized commission so far was in 2018 when I was commissioned by Gorilla Glue to create a five-foot Gorilla. But the ‘biggest’ commission so far in terms of fame, corporate establishments and being for the purpose of a fan base, is certainty the Hibs commission.”

All five will be displayed at the Club’s stadium at Easter Road for fans to visit during match days or as part of the stadium tour.