Meet John Lovell, the vintage rugby programme collector who has enough stuff to open up his own museum

It started with a leek. Forty-three years later, John Lovell has several hundred rugby programmes, invaluable memorabilia and even a boxful of old Rugby World magazines.

A treasure trove of social and sporting history that tells a century-long rugby story. From Nelson Mandela and the 1995 Rugby World Cup final to ‘that try’ and a smattering of John Player Cup and provincial tour games in between. All in the spare room of an English teacher living in the Yorkshire Dales.

“Looking back, I hadn’t realised how young I was. It was my dad David, who is Welsh, his mate Frank House and four of us in the back of a Vauxhall Cavalier setting off at the crack of dawn to Edinburgh for Scotland v Wales in 1983,” Lovell explains over a coffee and biscuits in his kitchen. “A 200-mile journey with a Little Chef on the way. Attached to the aerial was a leek grown in my dad’s garden. We didn’t have tickets, so Dad went into the pubs to find some. I was left outside with a bottle of coke and some crisps while they searched. They went to the Roseburn Terrace and came out with tickets at face value.

“Whilst waiting, a drunk Welshman came up to me and asked me how much for my leek. I didn’t know what to say but he gave me 50p for it. I walked over to the programme booth and bought my first one. That was it for me, that’s where it started. I still remember the cigarette and cigar smoke filling the air, the hip flasks being handed around. Staff Jones scored a try in front of me. That captivated me.”

Collector’s items

From there, Lovell’s obsession took hold. Each and every game, he collected the programmes being sold at the wooden huts. Whether it be his own Wharfedale RUFC, Neath games down at The Gnoll or even Welsh Grand Slam mementos from 2005.

There are a few non-programme items scattered around too. A Daily Mirror poster of Will Carling pinched from a lamppost outside Twickenham. A T-shirt from the 1991 World Cup final. An All Blacks jersey from their 1989 tour and even our Jonah Lomu Stanley Chow print from last year. The collection currently sits at around 550 in total, with Lovell estimating that a quarter come from games he attended and the rest being gathered through other methods.

One of those methods was by simply asking. In 1989, he wrote a speculative letter to NZ Rugby magazine on the off-chance they may have some spare programmes. They did, posting him a boxload from throughout the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, both from the All Blacks and provincial games. Yet this unsolicited request ended up proving much more useful than just acquiring printed programmes.

John shows off his impressive collection of programmes and magazines (Photo by Dom Thomas)

“So in 1991, I managed to get a counterfeit accreditation for the Rugby World Cup,” Lovell explains. “There was a rugby writer called Ray Cairns who was your typical Kiwi, he didn’t give a s**t about anything. He was coming over to cover the tournament and stayed with my grandparents while in the UK for the tournament. In return, he drove me around the tournament having managed to blag me accreditation at Twickenham ahead of the opening game, England v New Zealand. We turned up on the morning of the game and talked around this classic RFU type to give me a pass for the tournament. I was only 17 and had a freelance press pass for all the games!

“I went to games like Western Samoa when they beat Wales and Australia v Argentina at Stradey Park. David Campese was mesmeric that day. Samoa against Australia in Pontypool was brilliant too. All with Ray.

“We fell out for a bit during the tournament over an unpaid B&B that resulted in my school getting a phone call, but we had made up by the semi-final and went to Scotland v England at Murrayfield. I’ve never seen hate and frenzy like it. Especially with Hastings missing the kick in front of the posts.”

“My big thing is the 1970s”

Nowadays, Lovell uses a variety of methods to add to his ever-growing collection. He has a few contacts who will bring him programmes back from games attended but his main approach is via eBay and Vinted, hunting for bundles that may contain a gem or two. Then there is Rugby Relics or Mullock’s auctions, but the prices on offer are often through the roof.

For Lovell, his collection is less of an obsessive paradise of completing sets and more about taking on things that hold personal sentiment. Some collectors within the game will spend thousands in an effort to find specific programmes and will add them to ring-bound folders in meticulous order. Lovell’s are scattered around the home among family photos and work stuff in no real order.

As well as programmes, John’s collection includes a few vintage editions of Rugby World (Dom Thomas)

“I have loads of provincial programmes but my big thing is the 1970s. I have most of Wales’ home games during that period. An awful lot of Five Nations ones too,” he adds. “The older I get, the more selective I will be. My 1930s British Lions v New Zealand programme has since gone for around £800 to £1,200 but I didn’t pay that. I’ve not got masses of ultra-valuable ones but that’s not why I collect them. I want the stuff that means something to me, which is why I have so much from the 1970s. I’ve only ever paid a few quid for most. I think the most I paid was for the Llanelli v Swansea game in 1972, which was a record crowd for a club game. I paid around £75 but it also came with the ticket, so it was a good buy.

“I was desperate for the 1995 World Cup final programme and got that for about £70. Those are difficult to get because it’s A4 and massive. You don’t get many mint ones. And this is nerdom of the highest order, the spines would go on them so to get a good copy was rare. I went through a run of wanting stuff from that 1995 tournament because of the South Africa comeback and Nelson Mandela. I’ve got a programme from each of the Springboks’ games in that tournament. They also had a good style to them. It was a historical moment in rugby on the cusp of professionalism and South Africa returning to world rugby.

“I will only go looking for the odd stuff. I read about John Pullin and England playing away against Ireland during The Troubles where he famously said ‘At least we turned up’ after taking a beating. So if there is an interesting game, I might go looking for it.”

Time capsule

As we thumb through his collection, some gems present themselves. There are a handful of French programmes that give you a window into the world of Robert Paparemborde and Jean-Claude Skrela, amateur boxers and 64kg scrum-halves. A British & Irish Lions Test programme from the 1989 tour to Australia shows a warm–up game between New South Wales and Queensland. On the bench for NSW is future Australian coaching duo Ewen McKenzie and Eddie Jones. A particular highlight is the 1978 Wales v France Five Nations game in which Gareth Edwards secured another Grand Slam and called time on his international career.

You realise that Lovell’s collection is a time capsule of our sport, a window into the social and sporting history of rugby throughout the 20th century across the world. Capturing real-time insights from before, in a way more reliable than oral history.

“I have a programme from the 1973 Barbarians v New Zealand game. The game with the try. I opened it up and some chap, I don’t know who, had made notes about what happened during the game. It says ‘a fine, dry day’. A record of Gerald Davies not playing and John Bevan coming in. Mervyn Davies pulled out on the morning of the game with flu. The chap wrote that there was scintillating play all afternoon, Tommy David being the star with a swashbuckling performance. I got that for a fiver.”

A keen fan annotated this programme from the legendary 1973 Barbarians v New Zealand encounter (Dom Thomas)

The art of rugby

One thing that becomes immediately apparent as you look through the collection is that the design of programmes were once a real artform. The Kiwis were almost gothic in their 1960s design, looking like a Metallica inspiration long before the birth of heavy metal.

The home nations tended to opt for beautiful pencil illustrations of dashing outside-halves breaking through the line of defence. You also get a window into the world we lived in. Adverts for Super Kings cigarettes, longer than the kings but at the same price. Or the latest MG Maestro. They are also smaller.

“Programmes get put in someone’s pocket and then they have the choice to keep it or sling it. Most of them would have been thrown away. When they were pocket-sized, they stayed in better nick. I remember Wales going A4 around the 2005 Grand Slam and as a collector they were problematic. I spoke to some fellow collectors recently and they would post them home. They would go to games with a pre-stamped envelope and pop them in the postbox, which is a different level to me. A lot of the collectors have links to people going to games who sort stuff for you.”

It would be hard to place a value on Lovell’s collection but in any case it would be unfair. It is an eclectic collection that acts more like a treasure trove than an encyclopedia of rugby. Any fan popping in for a cup of tea would find themselves lost for hours thumbing through pages and pages of gold dust.

A programme and match ticket from the 1983 Scotland v Wales Five Nations match – the game that kickstarted John’s passion for collecting (Dom Thomas)

Sentimental value

And if you’re lucky, Lovell may even offer up a programme or two to you. For him, the value doesn’t come in what they’re worth financially but the sentimental value that have shaped his 46-year love of rugby and the small paper programmes that come with each and every game.

“I’ve had a few people get in touch about whether I have particular programmes. Some family members of a Welsh referee got in touch about games he presided over,” adds Lovell. “There was a Welsh Schoolboys team that won in New Zealand, the nation’s only victory there at any level. A chap from that team got in touch and I sent him the programme because it was the pinnacle of his career, which was nice to do.

“I have a soft spot for a Middlesex v Yorkshire programme when they played each other in the County Championship final. My PE teacher was on the bench, Mr Huntsman, and I’d travelled down with Wharfedale RUFC.

“You could get much closer to the players and I remember Mr Huntsman getting my programme signed. I was torn because he wasn’t that reliable. John Bentley, Rory Underwood and Peter Winterbottom all played for Yorkshire that day (1987).

“If I had to keep one from my collection, it would be that 1983 Scotland v Wales one. It is where it all started. That A3 programme that is worth £2 and has no value but has memories for me.

“Although I always had a suspicion Dad got the tickets in the first pub and made us go around to another few to get a few more drinks. It wouldn’t surprise me.”

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