With matchday programmes seemingly in decline, perhaps pin badges will fulfil the collector’s need for a memento By Seb White for MUNDIALThere’s a Russian guy called Vladimir who flies to London every year to watch his beloved Chelsea at the Bridge. After negotiating security, he meets a guy called Terry in a car park near Heathrow. Terry and Vladimir have known each other for years. Vladimir has bundles of cash and Terry has a van full of merchandise that is available in batches of a hundred. After Vladimir samples some of the goods and the pair engage in a quick negotiation, hands are shaken and merchandise is exchanged for cash. Everyone is happy. Welcome to the fanatical world of football pin badges.Terry stores his merchandise in his garage in deepest Oxfordshire, in hundreds of those small blue boxes you usually see in DIY stores full of nails and stuff. Terry’s boxes are labelled with quintessentially English place names such as Bridgwater, Lyme Regis and Chichester, and each one is full with metal pin badges in plastic wrapping. Related: 'I try to trigger all the senses': the artist behind the banners at Anfield Related: What makes a great football stadium? Continue readingreadfullarticle
