Article on BBC website today about football programmes

[Chris1963]

BBC website

[Felicity, I guess so]

That explains why I couldn't see any at Easter Rd last Saturday, then

[Patrick Thistle]

Mrs Thistle sent me the link to the article this morning. It read very much like it would be news to people who don't go to football matches very often.

I would have liked an interview with a frothing collector bemoaning the loss of programmes and how it's a herald of the breakdown of civilisation. Typical BBC bias.

[Chris1963]

I thought it was quite a good article, although it didn't mention that many non-league clubs also went on-line only over the past two or three years (although thankfully, some have since gone back to paper programmes)

[Cousin Boneless]

Derby County have a glossy monthly magazine at a fiver a go

[Uros Predic]

For most non-league clubs, the key line in that report is this one from Hanwell Town's programme editor/marketing manager...

"I know there is talk of a move towards [a] digital programme, and they are becoming a lot more popular. But I think - if you are going to produce the programme, why not print it as well?"

The answer, quite simply, is printing it costs money. And it also means finding a club volunteer to collect/receive the programmes and get them to the ground, and it also means finding a volunteer willing to sell them at the game too. For so many clubs it's an easy decision; go through the cost and hassle of the above to satisfy some groundhoppers/collectors who'll stop by your club maybe once, or not bother as the regulars you're really there for aren't that fussed.

[Discordant Resonance]

Would be interesting to know whether this is also a trend in rugby or cricket, as much as soccer - here, the humble programme is still a mainstay for local GAA clubs, even if only a teamsheet at times at district level, while county boards produce plumper, glossier affairs for local finals and intercounty games.

[Baptiste]

Possibly more so than football. St Helens were very early movers to a digital programme, recentish matches I went to at Bradford, Newcastle and Hunslet had no programme and Hull was a monthly issue. Think Leeds still do them.
The one T20 game I went to at Derbyshire just had a scorecard for sale.

[The Mighty Trin]

Wakefield Trinity switched in 2019 to a local newspaper pullout and then a glossy monthly mag named after myself. It buggered my home programme collecting obsession right up, but at least it's now a finite hobby. There's no digital matchday programme.

[Patrick Thistle]

The answer, quite simply, is printing it costs money. And it also means finding a club volunteer to collect/receive the programmes and get them to the ground, and it also means finding a volunteer willing to sell them at the game too. For so many clubs it's an easy decision; go through the cost and hassle of the above to satisfy some groundhoppers/collectors who'll stop by your club maybe once, or not bother as the regulars you're really there for aren't that fussed.

A few weeks back I went to a game where the programme was included in the entry price and basically acted as a sign that I'd paid. As the entry price was only £4 this felt like a proper bargain.