Official programme here!

You wouldn't know it by the layout of this blog, but my profession is graphic design. There are a few good design bookstores downtown, in particular one on Richmond Street called SWIPE. It used to be west of spadina, but has recently moved into the reno'd warehouse east of it beside Mamma's pizza. I used to live right in that area when I was in school, so I would pop in there every weekend to thumb through some of the books. One that always caught my eye was MATCH DAY. Flipping through the pages, my eyes would get all big, seeing all these examples of really cool covers that were so reflective of a time and place. For whatever reason, I never bought it until recently when I ran into the owner and asked him if he could order it in.

MATCH DAY is a collection of programme covers from England dating just after the second world war to the start of the premiership. Every team that played in the first division is here, as well as some significant other teams from across the country. In their introductions Bob Stanley and Paul Kelly both talk about football's past in England, better days, but specifically in terms of these programmes. They lament how now they are all glossy and filled with advertising, but before each team definitely has a unique stamp on their pre-game guides, some done with good design (Sheffield United, Leister City) others ... ugh, not so much (Crewe Alexandra!)

I'm glad I finally picked this up after so many years. It's just rad to be able to flip through some serious footballing history and see not just how design changed, but you can see pieces of the history of England through these covers as well. This book, as well as my last review of Soccer in Sun and Shadow show how the game used to be ... something that as a typical hockey/baseball Canadian kid I am keen to learn about. As with Galeano, even though they are short intros, it's just really cool reading about stories from people who lived through the past that they are presenting in their books. Whether it's just hearing about how the programmes were made (sometimes the managers were writing them) to hearing about how the schedule used to have home and away matches played in successive saturdays (a cause for resentment and revenge for the first leg). Anyone who follows EPL, likes design and history, or is just a collector of any kind of Football memorabilia would benefit from checking this pretty rare find out.