KEEPING IT COVERED
luctant to follow the trend set by others. I settled on a compromise whereby some of the
action shots featured, which fortunately being taken using standard lens often included
good background detail. However, even this did not bring every club into the collection.
This spring Colin Peel asked me when I was eventually going to use the programmes as a
resource for a book and I decided the time was right to commit to print. Luckily eBay makes
buying programmes much easier both through being able to search easily but also then
picking out the best covers. Two clubs proved extremely difficult to track down – Leeds and
Liverpool. I was again grateful to Colin for identifying the issues which filled the final gaps
in the book, with the Leeds cover probably being the most contrived of all those included.
The alterative was a pre-war cover, the only one available being priced at £1750.
On looking through the book myself I am intrigued to note the cost of the programmes
over the years. Tuppence was the going rate before and after WW2, rising to threepece in
the mid fities and sixpence by the early 1960s. I remember paying 2/- admission in 1964 so
the price of the programme was quite a lot in comparison to entry to the ground at that
time. By the time of decimalisation in 1971 the price of a Scarborough programme was 5p,
or a shilling, but after the inflation of the 1970s the cost in 1980 was 15p, a 300% increase.
Looking through again the graphic design and use of
colour is equally interesting, with the choice of font often
being influenced by the times as on the Portsmouth programme of 1979. The Mansfield programme of 1989 may
have looked great then but looks dated now.
As other people read the book and comment on what
they see I realise that there is even more to the collection
in stories attached to the specific matches for certain programmes. For example the Watford Christmas fixture was
abandoned at half time, the Preston North End playoff
match was delayed by a fire in the stand, the Morecambe
FA Cup tie was played at Maine Road and the Crystal Palace friendly fixture against West Ham was the first match
in the UK to be played in front of an all-seated crowd. I
have intentionally kept captions brief and limited to match
details only but would welcome further observations and
stories through Twitter (Grounds Frenzy @MikeFloate), by
letter or email ([email protected]).
I do have two favourite covers. The Portsmouth cover of 1932 is simply beautiful in its own
right, with a wonderful photo showing the ground only developed on two sides and surrounded by open land. The Doncaster Rovers cover for the last game at Belle Vue is even
more personal as the cover photo is one I took while watching Swansea City slip to yet
another away defeat.
With the book now in print I can more easily browse through the collection and consign
the actual programmes to a box. This of course leaves space for me to develop the other
part of the collection – non-League programmes. With a 1930s Hayes programme and a
superb post-war Grays Athletic issue already secured a second book is already being
planned. It promises to be very different but hopefully equally interesting.
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