Starting a football programme collection
To effectively launch a collection of football programmes, a person needs to choose a theme to his or her collection. There are hundreds of thousands of programmes available in the United Kingdom, and even more around the world. To give a collection a of purpose a theme should be adopted to avoid pointless accumulation and to keep to a designated budget.
Sometimes you come across a programme that covers or crosses two themes at once. These may prove to be valuable acquisitions in future years as they represent a special or historical occasion, which will revive memories for football fans from across the world in the future.
The programme is a good way to remember a memorable event at a particular match. This could be in the form of some sort of achievement such as a player milestone, which is featured in the programme. A player milestone could come in many formats, such as an appearance record, a goal scoring record, the end of a players career, a number of years of service by the manager, and others.
The sadder side of soccer is also often recorded in the programme. These historical events interest collectors who see them as poignant reminders of the past. They are sought after and valuable as a result. The tragedies at Bradford, Ibrox and Hillsborough have valuable programmes associated with them, not only for the day itself, but also the subsequent commemorative matches.
A very collectible set of football programmes to own are those associated with the Munich Air Disaster involving the Manchester United team and Busby’s Babes. The programme from the game against Partizan Belgrade who Manchester United were playing on the tragic trip can sell for over a thousand pounds. A similar amount can be achieved for the programme against Sheffield Wednesday straight after the disaster, where the players list wasn’t filled in for the Man United team.
Notable events are usually reflected in the content and design of the programme. Important football programmes to get hold of are final matches in an old stadium, or the first issue within a new one. Most programmes of this type are easily available with interesting articles and historical information, making them a gem in any soccer programme collection.
Programmes often mean different things to different collectors. You may value a prticular programme highly for entirely personal reasons and memories which they may conjure up. For other collectors the pursuit is one of passion, finding out more about the history and traditions of a football team that they follow. Whatever your reason, collecting football programmes is a very rewarding hobby, and comes highly recommended to any football supporter.
