Tue 26 Jan, 2010
To effectively begin a football programme collection, an individual needs to choose a specialisation to his or her collection. There are hundreds of thousands of programmes available in Britain, and even more worldwide. To give a collection some sort of meaning a theme ought to be adopted to avoid pointless accumulation and to keep to a designated budget.
Sometimes you come across a programme that joins or crosses two themes at once. These may prove to be valuable acquisitions in years to come as they signify an important or historical occasion, which will muster memories for soccer fans from around the globe in the future.
The programme is a good way to remember a memorable event at a specific game. This could be in the form of some sort of achievement such as a player milestone, which can be featured in the programme itself. 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 a player, and much more.
The darker side of football is also often recorded in the programme. These tragic events attract collectors who see them as poignant reminders of the past. They are sought after and valuable as a result. The disasters at Hillsborough, Ibrox and Bradford have collectible programmes connected with them, not only for the match itself, but also the subsequent commemorative matches.
A notably collectible set of football programmes to own are those related to 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 £1000. A similar amount can be obtained for the programme against Sheffield Wednesday directly after the disaster, where the players list wasn’t filled in for the Man United team.
Notable occurrences are usually reflected in the content and design of the programme. Important football programmes to collect are final games in an old stadium, or the first issue within a new one. Most programmes of this type are abundant with interesting articles and historical information, making them a gem in any football programme collection.
Football programmes often mean different things to different collectors. You may value a prticular programme highly due to entirely personal reasons and memories which they may conjure up. For other collectors the pursuit is one of passion, understanding more about the history and traditions of a football team that they follow. Whatever your reason, collecting football programmes is a highly rewarding hobby, and comes highly recommended to any football supporter.