Collecting Football Programmes

Collecting Football programmes is one of Britain's fastest growing hobbies 

Collecting Football Programmes

 Time was when football match programmes took only a couple of minutes to flick through and an 1875 programme for a friendly between Queen's Park and Wanderers... at a time when players were identified by the color of their socks or caps rather than shirts embellished with numbers, was a single sheet just listing the teams.





 Now the programmes have become the voice of the club with a strong link with the fans.



They build up a historical picture. It's possible to trace names that have eventually become famous. And by facts and information quoted they also show how the sport has changed over the years.

Collecting Football Programmes

It's pretty amazing how collecting football memorabilia has escalated in the past 25 years or more.

There are specialist guide books and periodicals to browse through and fairs and meets to visit.




The predominant issue with these however, is mostly geared to the programmes - some of which fetch huge sums of money... although it seems that anything connected with the game also has a price.


In  a Christie's sale one of Sol Campbell's spare shirts for the 1998 World Cup played in France sold for £1,495 against its estimate of £300-£500 - and a white and blue Tottenham Hotspur tracksuit worn by a Spurs player prior to the match made £690 against an estimated £200-£300.

Collecting Football Programmes

A collection of 57 black and white press photographs regarding English, Scottish and International matches played in 1938-39 and later, fetched £437 from an estimated £80-£120 - and even more extraordinary was a menu card commemorating '



The Return of the Football Association Cup to The South' in 1921 which reached a staggering £1,380 after being estimated to fetch £300- £500.


Football memorabilia also takes in medals and trophies, sculptures, caps, chinaware, lapel badges - and even boots... although finding a pair that belonged to a famous player is rare. So the real question for someone starting out is what to collect.



Choices obviously develop, and change, according to interest for an all round assessment one way to start is by visiting Collecting Clubs, Associations and Supporters' shops or by reading up the subject magazines and directories for sale on the shelves of bookshops.




If collecting is purely for interest and pleasure, anything partial to your liking is the order of the day. If it's for profit, it is quite a different ball game and there are points to observe.



As far as programmes are concerned, many turn  up at fairs as re-prints which have little or no value and a problem here is that it's not always easy to detect these!

Collecting Football Programmes

Obviously programmes in pristine condition fetch the highest prices, although the old programmes of clubs that have changed their name or moved to another ground are also constantly in demand and these generally 'show their age'.






So football memorabilia has a value to someone and whatever it may be it should be looked upon as an investment for the future.

Collectibles Coach