Starting a football programme collection
To effectively start a football programme collection, a person needs to choose a specialisation to his or her collection. There are thousands of football programmes available in the United Kingdom, and even more worldwide. To give a collection some sort of purpose a theme should be adopted to avoid needless accumulation and to keep to a designated budget.
Of course, it will sometimes be the case that you come across a football programme that joins or crosses two themes at once. These are likely to prove to be valuable purchases in years to come as they represent an important or historical event, which will revive memories for soccer fans from across the world in the future.
The programme is a good way to record a memorable event at a specific match. This could come in the form of some sort of achievement such as a player milestone, which is featured in the programme. Player milestones come in many formats, such as an appearance record, a goal getting 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 match programmes. These historical events interest collectors who see them as poignant reminders of the past. They are highly collectible and valuable as a result. The disasters at Bradford, Ibrox and Hillsborough have valuable programmes associated with them, not only for the match itself, but also the subsequent commemorative games.
A very valuable 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 a thousand pounds. A similar sum 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 style 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 soccer programme collection.
Programmes can mean different things to different collectors. You may value one programme highly for entirely personal reasons and memories which they may conjure up. For others the pursuit is one of passion, finding out more about the history and traditions of a football team that they support. Whatever your reason, collecting football programmes is a very rewarding hobby, and comes highly recommended to any football supporter.
