Fully Programmed: The Lost World of Football Programmes

There’s far more to vintage football programmes than optimistic manager’s notes, unreliable teamsheets and grudging opposition ’pen pictures’. Before the era of the standardised corporate brochure, every club’s programme had a different, unique personality, and played its part in the precious ritual of going to the match. Last weekend’s action shots provided a foretaste of the excitement; the A-Z scoresheet provided a live lookout on the rest of the League, while ’At Home With - ’ provided a peephole into a star’s domestic life. Remember the allure of the Souvenir Shop ads? Football League Review centrespreads? ’Girl of the Match’? From the ’ground picture’ cover era through the ’groovy’ and ’colour action’ phases to the dawn of clipart, programmes from our nostalgic 60s-90s Golden Age amount to a (slightly crumpled) pocket history of graphic design. Packed with pictures and memories, Fully Programmed offers an irresistible window back into more innocent times.

Derek Hammond has written about soccer and music for ＂FourFourTwo,＂ club programs, mirror.co.uk, and the NME. Gary Silke is editor of the ＂Fox,＂ one of the original and oldest soccer fanzines still in existence. The pair have provided soccer cards for ＂The Onion Bag,＂ BBC1’s ＂Match of the Seventies＂/＂Eighties,＂ and the National Football Museum.