Dutch Football Programmes 1960s - 1980s

NAC 1976

VVV 1962

NAC Breda 1970

Ajax 1973

NAC Breda 1979

Den Bosch 1973

Utrecht 1975

Den Haag 1977

PSV 1983

For collectors of football programmes, there are umpteen wonderful cover designs to track down and cherish. In the book '1 Shilling - The Football Programme Design Revolution of 1965-85', Matthew Caldwell and myself explored the key designers of that remarkably creative era for football programmes issued in the UK. Nowhere else in the world could compete with the sheer number of programmes being issued on matchdays throughout the UK at this time, but there are some notable productions from around the world. 

This very brief post presents some favourite Dutch football programmes. I've written elsewhere about the legendary Dik Bruynesteyn whose fabulous illustrations appeared on the covers of Ajax's European ties in the 60s and early 70s, as well as Holland's international matches and various European fixtures played in the Netherlands. 

I'm keen to learn more about the designers responsible for the other examples that I've highlighted here - and of course any other super designs that I should know about!

 

Ajax 1968

Derby County v Arsenal, 15th December 1976

How quickly a year whizzes by! Here is my now regular annual Xmas Football Programme post...

For 2025, I'm showcasing a super seasonal example of one of Derby County's classic tabloid newspaper-style programmes for the visit of Arsenal to the Baseball Ground on this very day 49 years ago...

Inside, readers will discover the Derby players  - and a Womble! - meeting the fans, period ads that reflect a deeper economic and cultural story of the time, and even a photo of the Duke of York pub in Burton Road (long since closed down). 

The 0-0 draw was watched by a crowd of 24,016, with the teams in the throes of a mediocre season for them both. Derby County's newspaper programmes were issued between 1971/2 and 1982/83. Easily the longest run for this format in the UK. This novel idea which was pioneered by the club meant that supporters could receive their matchday programmes often a day before the game - either delivered like a traditional newspaper or picked up at their local newsagent - as well as buying a copy at the ground itself. 

However the flimsy newspaper format meant that very few examples survive unfolded, and The Ram (or re-dubbed several years earlier as just 'RAM') was especially prone to damage when bought at the match. Also a half a century of problematic storage has not been too kind to the health of the cheap paper stock.

I recall that programme enthusiasts at the time were critical of the tabloid format where newsprint was favoured above glossy paper. But I'm definitely a fan of RAM, especially the bold and dramatic cover designs from this time.

MERRY CHRISTMAS: RAM, 15th December 1976

A Womble joins the Deby County players at the junior fans Xmas party

The Costa del Sol is a telephone call away...

So who exactly were the 'London Executive Placement Bureau'?

Four pints must have sounded like a good idea after a dour nighttime 0-0 draw at the Baseball Ground

I wonder how long the carpet and wallpaper lasted for at this local 'Ramdevous'?

Arsenal's No.10 was actually Frank Stapleton, and there's no 'B' in Nottingham Forest...

 SEASON'S GREETINGS!

Pop Pic Library, 1960s UK digest comic: UPDATED CHECKLIST

 

Pop Pic Library, 1965-1968 - the checklist:

No.1 The Last Time - The Rolling Stones 

No.2 A World of our Own - The Seekers 

No.3 I’m Alive – The Hollies 

No.4 Set Me Free - The Kinks 

No.5 Heart Full of Soul - The Yardbirds 

No.6 The One in the Middle - Manfred Mann 

No.7 We’ve Got to Get out of this Place - The Animals 

No.8 You’ve got your Troubles - The Fortunes 

No.9 I’m Down - The Beatles 

No.10 Like We Used To Be - Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames 

No.11 Whatcha Gonna Do About It - The Small Faces 

No.12 Hark - Unit 4 Plus 2 

No.13 Yesterday Man - Chris Andrews 

No.14 Get Off Of My Cloud - Rolling Stones 

No.15 We Can Work it Out - The Beatles 

No.16 Don’t Bring me Your Heartaches - Paul & Barry Ryan 

No.17 A Must to Avoid - Herman's Hermits 

No.18 Keep on Running - Spencer Davis Group 

No.19 You Were On My Mind - Crispian St. Peters 

No.20 As Tears Go By - The Rolling Stones 

No.21 A Groovy Kind of Love - The Mindbenders 

No.22 Inside Looking Out - The Animals 

No.23 I Can't Let Go - The Hollies 

No.24 The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore - The Walker Brothers

No.25 I Put a Spell on You - Alan Price Set 

No.26 Pretty Flamingo - Manfred Mann 

No.27 Not Responsible - Tom Jones 

No.28 Sorrow - The Merseys 

No.29 Bus Stop - The Hollies

No.30 Paperback Writer - The Beatles 

No.31 Get Away - Georgie Fame

No.32 Out of Time - Chris Farlowe 

No.33 All or Nothing - The Small Faces 

No.34 Got To Get You Into My Life - Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers

No.35 I'm a Boy - The Who 

No.36 Bend It! - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich 

No.37 High Time - Paul Jones

No.38 I Can’t Control Myself - The Troggs 

No.39 Gimme Some Lovin' - The Spencer Davis Group 

No.40 Help me Girl - Eric Burdon & the Animals

No.41 In the Country - Cliff Richard 

No.42 Sunshine Superman - Donovan

No.43 Got To Get You Into My Life - Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers 

No.44 Let's Spend the Night Together - The Rolling Stones

No.45 On a Carousel - The Hollies 

No.46 Penny Lane - The Beatles 

No.47 There's a Kind of Hush - Herman's Hermits

No.48 Release Me - Engelbert Humperdinck

No.49 Funny Familiar Forgotten Feelings - Tom Jones 

No.50 Dedicated to the One I Love - The Mama's and the Papa's

No.51

No.52 Silence is Golden - The Tremeloes 

No.53 A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum

No.54 Okay! - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch 

No.55 There Goes My Everything - Engelbert Humperdinck

No.56 All You Need is Love - The Beatles 

No.57 Pleasant Valley Sunday - The Monkees

No.58 I'll Never Fall In Love Again - Tom Jones 

No.59 Hole in My Shoe - Traffic 

No.60 Flowers in the Rain - The Move 

No.61 The Last Waltz - Engelbert Humperdinck

No.62 I Can See for Miles - The Who 

No.63 Hello, Goodbye - The Beatles 

No.64 Let the Heartaches Begin - Long John Baldry 

No.65 I'm Coming Home - Tom Jones

No 66 Daydream Believer - The Monkees

No 67 I Can Take or Leave Your Loving - Herman's Hermits

No.68 Thank U Very Much - The Scaffold

No.69 As You Are - The Tremeloes

No.70 Words - The Bee Gees

No.71 Darlin' - The Beach Boys

No.72 Congratulations - Cliff Richard

                                 

Chelsea v Portsmouth, Christmas Day 1948

Perhaps one of my favourite football programmes to be issued on Xmas Day has to be the Chelsea v Portsmouth Division 1 match which kicked off at 11am in 1948. 

It has tremendous historical significance. Firstly because the 1948/49 season marked the first of Pompey's two successive top flight titles - the only times that the Hampshire club have ever won the nation's Premier division. But also because this was the very first issue of Chelsea's new style match day programme. In his match day notes, Club Manager William Birrell, announces that this Christmas morning publication is "the best of its kind in Great Britain". 

It was also quite a transformation from the previous programmes in the club's 1948/49 season. Up to this Xmas Day match, supporters had been getting a rudimentary programme made up of one sheet of paper folded into eight pages for just 3d. Now for double the price at 6d, here were sixteen pages complete with numerous black and white photographs, illustrations and specially commissioned articles. Chelsea's departing inside forward Tommy Walker is the illustrated cover star, his cartoon image is set within a frame printed in blue ink. 

Number One of Chelsea's pioneering post-war programme

This key issue would inspire a host of imitators, particularly the official match day programme of Chelsea's London rivals Arsenal who chose the following season to launch their new style programme that's a dead ringer in format to this pioneering issue. These programmes are almost certainly the predecessors of the new magazine style issues of the late 1960s, which would eventually morph into the kind of football programmes that are bought at matches across the nation today.

A superb full-page Xmas-themed illustration by Roy Ullyett on the inside front cover 

Billy Birrell's 'Between Ourselves' page that proudly announces the publication of the club's new programme 

Photos of what would be Portsmouth's Title Winning Team!

The Line-Ups, Portsmouth No7 Peter Harris scored both goals in a 2-1 win

Over 43,000 turned up at Stamford Bridge on this Xmas Day in 1948 to see the home team beaten 2-1 by Portsmouth. Pompey then triumphed 5-2 at home two days later on 27th December 1948. These double headers were the norm back then, when the home and away fixtures were often played either on both Xmas Day and then Boxing Day, or a day or two after the first Xmas Day match. 

Portsmouth won the 1948/49 Division 1 title by 5 points over second-placed Manchester United, with Chelsea ending up mid-table in 13th position. 

Season's Greetings!

A photograph taken by Daniel Meadows at Workington v Doncaster Rovers, 26th October 1974

On this very day, 26th October, exactly 50 years ago photographer Daniel Meadows was at Borough Park to see Workington AFC v Doncaster Rovers. He took a picture of a young lad standing on the terraces between two older supporters. Above them sat five women, some elderly gentlemen, and a very young baby. I expect that this was taken at half-time given that no-one seems to be watching any action on the pitch.

                       

At this point in the season Workington had lost their previous three matches, and a 0-3 defeat to Doncaster would continue their pointless run. Just two seasons later, at the end of 1976/77, Workington lost their League status - and have yet to return.

The man wearing a white overcoat standing on the right side of the photo is reading the matchday programme. As is the man sitting above him. It's a 16 page issue for 5p, with 10 pages of adverts, and no photographs within. The only photograph is wrapped over the front and back covers. It depicts the first team squad, and is printed in light red behind the team line-ups which feature on the front cover. This was the format that was used throughout the 1974/75 season. 

                           

Daniel Meadows had embarked on his photographic journey the previous year. He travelled across the nation from September 1973 in a second hand double decker bus, part of which he'd converted into a darkroom. He dubbed the vehicle the 'Free Photographic Omnibus', with the plan to give away free copies of his hand printed photographs to the subjects. These were people doing everyday things up and down the country - like attending a football match on a Saturday afternoon. 

The Workington section came towards the end of Daniel's odyssey which wound up in the North West about a week after this photograph taken at Boundary Park. This image featured in the subsequent book called 'Living Like This' which was published by Arrow in 1975. It's a book that is now considered a classic in the field of documentary photography. In the subsequent years Daniel has been able to track down some of his subjects, though this group of football supporters have never been identified.  

The match day programme had proved elusive for some time, but I managed to track down a copy. The adverts evocatively capture a time in a place. Daniel's photograph asks the viewer many questions. Did the younger male fan know the two men either side of him? What was the chap on his right saying? And how come such a young baby was taken along to a football match on a chilly Autumn day?

Questions we may never find out, unless someone stumbles upon the photo who was either in it, or knows any of the people who were snapped on film as they attended a football match in Workington on 26th October 1974.

                              

 

Cambridge United v Oldham Athletic FA Cup 3rd Round 1973/74

 

50p for a programme in 1974? The answer is Yes, and also it's No.

This issue of Cambridge United's 'Black & Amber' was 40p more than the regular 10p price tag. That's because the purchase of this special 'Official Match Magazine' doubled up as the cost of admission into the Abbey Stadium for the FA Cup 3rd Round tie versus Oldham Athletic on 6th January 1974. This match just happened to be the very first official fixture to be played on a Sunday as it kicked off at 11.30am, several hours before the other cup ties set to be played on this historic Sunday fifty years ago. 

The reason was because of the energy crisis, fuel shortages and the Three Day Week, it was decided that it would be too costly to plug a football ground into the grid on a busy Saturday. So some fixtures were rearranged for the Sunday when there was likely to be a more guaranteed supply of electricity. The morning kick off also meant that costly floodlights certainly needn't be turned on.

So the trusty matchday programme was a way of getting round the strict Sunday Observance laws dating back to the 18th century that prohibited an admission charge to paying events on the Sabbath. Entry into the ground was the purchase of a programme, rather than buying a ticket or handing over cash at the door.

Hence that 50p overprint in thick black ink...

Front cover of this historic programme

There were also other price variations on the day to get through the turnstiles. Another version of the above programme was printed without the orange ink on the cover, and priced 30p, and this yellow Official Team Sheet cost 45p

This hastily produced team sheet has the updated line-ups for both teams 

The fixtures list inside the programme confirms that this Cup Tie was originally to be played on Saturday 5th January 1974 

The match itself ended in a 2-2 draw played in front of  8,479 spectators. The replay took place two days later on 8th January at Oldham's Boundary Park ground. As there was no time to write and publish a programme, only a team sheet was produced by the club. The game itself sounded like a classic cup tie, ending in a 3-3 draw watched by 10,250 fans. So that meant another replay...

Oldham Athletic v Cambridge United, 8/1/74

The second replay was scheduled for the following Monday, on 14th January 1974. A neutral venue was secured, so the two teams lined-up again at the City Ground, home of Nottingham Forest. There was only an Official Team Sheet that was produced for this F A Cup 3rd Round 2nd Replay. The 1.30pm kick off meant that only 3,563 people showed up. So many fans couldn't get time off work, and of course it was a school day meaning only a few and the brave of the United and Athletic young fan base were prepared to bunk off and find their way to Nottingham. 

Forest did get to show off their then new logo on this very scarce 'programme'

No further replays were needed as Oldham Athletic eventually won the tie 2-1. In the end, what will be forever historically significant about this 3rd Round FA Cup tie is that two teams from the then Third Division unknowingly triggered a change in the way fans attend football matches. That Sunday 6th January 1974 is half a century ago. Nowadays, watching football on a Sunday is merely just a typical day in our spectating schedule. But next time you go to a match on a Sunday, think of what it must have been like turning up to a professional football match on the one day you could never have attended one before...

Chelsea v Arsenal, Christmas Day 1956

Welcome back to the latest instalment of my now very occasional blog 'After You've Gone', and the ongoing seasonal exploration of football programmes for matches played over Christmas. This time we have a First Division encounter between Chelsea and Arsenal on Christmas Day 1956 at Stamford Bridge. The return match, which traditionally took place about twenty four hours later, was at Arsenal's Highbury stadium on Boxing Day.

Note that this London Derby was played on a Tuesday, offering fans an opportunity to watch football on both weekdays of the two-day Christmas Public Holiday. However, in the utterly male-serving tradition that had been played out since the Victorian era, the Christmas Day fixtures usually kicked-off at 11am. A time that meant the men could return home after the game to their Xmas Day lunch table that had most likely been prepared by their wives, mothers or sisters. 

 

The Chelsea programme had retained the same format for their past three seasons. A blue and white cover with an overhead illustration of the pitch and the ground's extensive terracing. The publication was sixteen pages thick, and just like Arsenal's match day programme, it contained no external advertising. 

the centrespread complete with a nice example of rusty staples

A highlight of this Christmas Day programme is this delightful 'Seasonal Greetings' illustration by Mickey Durling in the centrespread. It depicts the Chelsea first team players, Manager Ted Drake, as well as their coach and trainer. Durling's cartoons were a regular feature of the sports press in the 1950s, and he's clearly enjoying himself in the Christmas spirit. Two players are decorating the Christmas Tree, outside right Peter Bradbrook is shown carrying a turkey, and there are two players pushing right back Peter MacFarlane on his sled. 

The Line Ups Xmas Day, 1956

"It isn't good counting the chickens" from the programme's regular column 'This and That', 

,

Chelsea's December Fixtures, 1956/57

For the record, Chelsea v Arsenal on Christmas Day 1956 ended up as a 1-1 draw, played in front of 32,094 spectators. It would be so interesting to know how many female fans were at this match, and not back home, getting Xmas lunch ready for the returning men. Something of course we will never be able to find out...

What we do know is that this programme marks the final season when a full set of First Division fixtures were played on Christmas Day. In fact for Arsenal, this was to be their last ever match scheduled on a Christmas Day. However, the following season 1957/58, Chelsea were at home again on 25th December, and then on Christmas Day 1958, they won their last ever Xmas Day match three-nil away at Blackburn Rovers.

          'SEASONAL GREETINGS' from AFTER YOU'VE GONE