Collecting national team shirts from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
The 29th of August 2008 saw the Pepsi U-17 Tournament come to London Road. England were to play Israel, and I decided it would be the funniest thing ever if I turned up as the only away fan, so I bought the shirt on ebay for about £12.
England take on Israel at London Road
England romped to a 1-0 victory infront of 2002 spectators thanks to goal from Theo Walcott’s cousin Jacob.
I couldn’t be bothered to go, but I did get my hands on this lovely shirt.
In the summer of 2004 three Posh players were called up to play for their country, St Kitts & Nevis, two small islands in the east Caribbean. Calum Willock, Sagi Burton and Adam Newton all took part in a friendly against Northern Ireland, and then in the World Cup qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Calum Willock scored twice as St Kitts & Nevis sent shockwaves through the footballing world when they beat Barbados 3-2. The sugar boyz were through to the group stages, including Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico and St Vincent & The Grenadines.
I was able to follow the games on SKNVibes, and a contact in Basseterre got hold of the national team shirt for me. It cost a fair bit in postage, and sending money over via Western Union, and in a surprise import tax which I never quite understood.
About 6 years ago I decided to start collecting Peterborough United shirts. I had just signed up to eBay, and before I knew it I’d got my hands on 6 or 7 Posh shirts. Six years later I am the proud owner of almost a hundred Posh shirts dating back to 1975.
I have uploaded photos of most of them to Oldfootballshirts.com, a wonderful website that aims to catalogue football shirts from all over the globe.
I have alot of people to thank for helping me accumulate my collection. Especially those who have asked for nothing more than a pint in exchange for a classic 1980s shirt.
My top 5 Peterborough United shirts:
This was the goalkeeper’s change shirt worn by David Seaman in the 1981/82 season. This was the first year that Posh had a sponsor on their shirts.
A classic retro look. The only year we were sponsored by Fairview Homes. I’ve never seen another one of these about.
For a couple of seasons in the late 70s we changed our home colours to the Argentina look. My brother bought this one for at the Steve Cooper Memorial Day auction for me when he’d had a bit to drink. I got it signed by Tommy Robson and Colin Foster.
The oldest shirt in my collection. This was worn by Eric Steele during the 1975-77 seasons.
Beautiful, I even managed to find one with yellow sleeves.
