Matchday programme

Programme for an association football match played at Hampden Park, Glasgow on 9 October 1875 between home side Queen's Park and the Wanderers from London. It mentions the visiting club first and identifies individual players not by jersey numbers but by the colours of their stockings or caps.

The programme started life around the late 1880s as a scorecard which would have been a single card or sheet with dateline, team names and player positions. West Midlands team Aston Villa were one of the first clubs to publish a programme with their The Villa News and Record, which from the outset almost encouraged collecting as it was in the form of a journal with a different number and volume for each season and week respectively; by 1946, for instance, it was up to number 33. Of real interest for the collector, however, has always been the FA Cup Final programme; over the years there have been many attractive covers and the design often reflecting the age, with the late 1920s and 1930s examples bearing Art Deco style, for example.

It is understood that pre-war and early 1950s programmes are rarer due to recycling for paper shortages as part of the war effort and times of post-war austerity. The size of the programme has increased over the decades from the convenient pocket size to A4 but many clubs in the early 21st century have reverted to a more convenient size. The FA Cup Final has, however, retained its inconvenient size (even acknowledging this by coming with a customary carrier bag in recent years).

Modern programmes have far more pages than their earlier four or eight-page predecessors and are generally full colour and glossy. With the logistics and requirements of modern production (programmes are often printed beyond a club's locality, for example), the product has long been of little help in accuracy of the "field of play", although the advent of squad numbers has at least ensured the likelihood of all names being present. The programme for Duncan Edwards's debut for North West team Manchester United in the early 1950s for example does not bear his name at all.

In June 2018, clubs in the English Football League voted to end the requirement for programmes to be produced for every game.[2]

Certain clubs have a programme shop but these are few and far in between usually independent traders must be relied on. eBay has proved a good source now for the collector as due to the sheer saturation of armchair sellers the prices have been forced down. Dealers and collectors alike can still pick up bargains however even in rarities due to shortfalls in description for example.

One of the most sought-after of all programmes is the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final, but, as it was mass-produced, it is not as rare or expensive as one would imagine; however, its purchase is littered with potential minefields. There have been at least two reprints — with the original being heavier than the reprints at 130 grams — and the inside advert for Player's No. 6 is notably different. The blue of the Union Flag on the cover is darker too.

The programme for the first ever FA Cup Final held in Wembley in 1923 is much rarer and would typically cost over £1000; similarly the 1927 one is much sought after as it was the first and so far only time that the Cup "left England", being won by South Glamorgan team Cardiff City. The most expensive Wembley FA Cup Final programme by far, is the 1924 edition, as few remain; the game was played in torrential rain and fans used their programmes as part of their effort to cover themselves against the weather. The programme has reached £4,500 on the few occasions on which it has been offered at auction.

Some of the more recent Cup Final programmes are considered rare, notably the 1993 replay, and 1996 legend has it that the surplus copies were burned. They have been known to sell for anything between £60 and £100.

Perhaps the most famous club programme in association football is the one from the FA Cup game in February 1958 in which Manchester United met South Yorkshire team Sheffield Wednesday. This was Manchester United's first game after the Munich air disaster and, out of respect, their team layout was left blank.

A football programme from the 1882 FA Cup Final between Lancashire team Blackburn Rovers and Berkshire's Old Etonians sold at auction for a world record of £35,250.[3] The programme was sold by Sotheby's in May 2013 to Old Etonians Football Club. The previous record for a football programme was for the 1909 FA Cup Final contested between Manchester United and South West team Bristol City. It was sold on 15 May 2012 for £23,500 at Sotheby's by Graham Budd Auctions.

The programme for the 1973 European Cup Final between North Holland team Ajax and Piedmont's Juventus is also rare, with only 400 produced.[4]