More Than a Match Programme
A few days ago, my dad gave me a football programme that he had kept for nearly forty years.
It was the souvenir programme from Scunthorpe United's match against Exeter City on 2nd May 1988.
We both knew it wasn't an ordinary programme.
Produced to commemorate the closing of the Old Showground, it captured a moment of enormous significance in the history of Scunthorpe United and the town itself.
As I began turning the pages, I realised I wasn't simply looking at a football programme.
I was holding a carefully preserved piece of local history.
Saying Goodbye to the Old Showground
For generations of Scunthorpe supporters, the Old Showground was more than a football ground.
It was where first matches were attended, where lifelong memories were created, and where families gathered week after week to support their team.
Football grounds become woven into the stories of people's lives.
When they disappear, something more than bricks and concrete is lost.
The contributors to this souvenir programme clearly understood that.
Page after page is dedicated not simply to football, but to memories. There are historical photographs, personal reflections, club records and stories from people who knew that they were witnessing the end of an era.
The publication feels like a community collectively trying to preserve something precious before it disappeared forever.
A Time Capsule from 1988
Reading the programme today is like opening a time capsule.
The photographs capture moments from decades of Scunthorpe United history.
The advertisements provide a snapshot of local businesses and community life in the late 1980s.
The statistics record achievements, attendances and milestones from the club's past.
Even the design of the programme speaks of a different era.
This was football before smartphones, social media and streaming services.
Supporting your club meant being there.
Programmes were bought on the way through the turnstiles, read on the terraces and often taken home as souvenirs of a particular day.
Most eventually disappeared.
This one survived.
Nearly forty years later it still provides a remarkable window into the history of the club, the Old Showground and the community that surrounded it.
Voices That Preserved History
While the photographs and statistics are fascinating, it was the written contributions that resonated with me most.
In particular, the articles by Tom Taylor and John Staff stood out.
Tom Taylor was well known to local football supporters through his work as a sports reporter for the Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph. For years he documented the fortunes of Scunthorpe United, reporting on matches, players and the stories that mattered to supporters. His contribution captures not only the facts of the club's history but also the relationship between the club and the town it represented.
Alongside him was John Staff, whose contribution carries additional significance when viewed through the lens of history. John would go on to become one of Scunthorpe United's most respected historians, dedicating countless hours to researching, recording and preserving the story of the club.
Reading their articles today feels almost symbolic.
One was a journalist recording the story as it unfolded.
The other would become a historian dedicated to ensuring those stories were never forgotten.
Together, their words capture the atmosphere surrounding the closure of the Old Showground in a way that statistics alone never could.
The sadness of saying goodbye.
The pride in what had been achieved.
The memories created over generations.
And the hope that the club's future would be just as bright as its past.
A Programme Worth Preserving
One thing that struck me while reading the programme was how fortunate it is that copies like this still exist.
Match programmes were never intended to become historical artefacts. They were bought, read, folded into coat pockets and often discarded after the final whistle.
Yet this souvenir edition was different.
The people who produced it knew they were documenting the end of an era. They understood that the memories, photographs and reflections contained within its pages would become increasingly valuable as time passed.
Thankfully, this copy survived.
The programme itself has become part of the story it was created to tell.
Preserving the Past Again
After reading through the programme, I decided to scan it in full and attach it to this blog post.
There is something wonderfully fitting about that.
A publication created in 1988 to preserve memories of the Old Showground is now being preserved again using technology that those contributors could scarcely have imagined.
The people who wrote those articles hoped future generations would remember.
The people who collected the photographs hoped future generations would see them.
The people who assembled the programme hoped future generations would understand what the Old Showground meant.
Today, thanks to digital technology, those memories can continue to reach new audiences.
Threads of Connection
As I reflected on the programme, I realised it perfectly captures why I chose the name Threads With Connection for this blog.
Because this story isn't really about football.
It's about connection.
A connection between a club and its supporters.
A connection between a town and its history.
A connection between the journalist who documented the story and the historian who preserved it.
A connection between past and present.
Most of all, it is a reminder that history survives because people take the time to record it.
Tom Taylor documented the club's story as it unfolded.
John Staff would go on to become one of the custodians of its history.
The contributors captured memories that might otherwise have been lost.
Today those same memories can still be read, shared and appreciated.
Not bad for what appears, at first glance, to be an old football programme.
In reality, it is something much more valuable.
It is a reminder that the places we cherish may disappear, but the stories attached to them endure.
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