Newport County 1912-1989

THE MEMORABILIA OF NEWPORT COUNTY Part Three...

Videos & DVD’s

It doesn’t seem so long ago does it, when the only
way to see Newport County play was to
squeeze ones ample frame through the
narrow turnstiles and brave whatever the
British weather had to offer. Not in 2006
though, today’s generation of supporters
are a most privileged group indeed; their
personal computers, VCR and DVD
players ensure they never miss any crucial
or special moment.

It’s only 25 years since one of the most
exciting inventions of the 20th Century
burst into our living rooms; the ‘Video
Cassette Recorder’ was quite simply
manna from heaven as far as die-hard
football fans were concerned. For the
majority of supporters, watching their
beloved side on selected match days alone
could never adequately suffice the
addicted need for a regular County-fix.
Now for the very first time, we could watch
our team whenever we liked, all from the
comfort of our armchairs. Reliving those
special moments, savouring the action
over and over again; life for the football fan
would never be the same again. Quite how
we coped before the Eighties, goodness
only knows. Maybe our innocence was
bliss?

Not that Newport County footage suddenly
became freely available, quite the
opposite, there was very little about in
those first ten years commercially. I recall
taping a brief local news snippet showing
the County getting a real pasting at Bristol
Rovers, around 1983/4, and subsequently
watching it about a thousand times; such
was the thrilling novelty of being able to
see the ‘Port whenever I felt the urge. A
novelty that today’s supporters quite
excusably take very much for granted.

In those youthful days of video back in the
early 1980s, the County took to filming the
home games and an exclusive video-club
was established. For a small fee the club would
hire the tapes out to supporters, although none
were ever made available to buy and keep sadly. I
often wonder what happened to all those precious
club tapes, the unmistakable dulcet tones of our
current programme editor, Ray Taylor, were even
heard commentating on a few of them!

The recent issue of “The NCAFC Story” on DVD
plugged a huge gap for those of us that yearned
for footage of the old County; a five-hour bonanza
that extensively covers the wonderful highs and
gut-wrenching lows of a truly remarkable
decade; from the sublime to the ridiculous. The
birth of Newport AFC and the rise of the Exiles
features strongly too, all thanks to the
dedication and clever foresight of club
cameraman, Glyn Neale. We also have Glyn to
thank for all the wonderful website footage
we’ve feasted on over the last four years, his
contribution to preserving our recent history
simply cannot be overstated. Likewise Andrew
Taylor who, just like Glyn, braved hurricanes
and monsoons to record and cleverly preserve
the first six years of Newport AFC’s being. The
club-issue DVD is still available for a laughable
tenner; quite simply the mother of anything that
is deemed ‘must-have’.

Aside from the County appearing on other
club’s videos and compilations, what of the
other commercially available footage? The full
Blackpool away game was up for grabs in the
Club Shop circa 2001/2, as was the historic last
ever game at Somerton Park, when Newport
past met present in June, 1993. Many early
AFC matches were also sold individually in the
Newport indoor market in the early 90s; those
would be rather rare and no doubt highly
collectable now.

Newport County footage can also be acquired
via several other video releases; most notably
the 1993 issue of “Football Phoenix”, which
tells the tale of 5 defunct clubs that refused to
die and rose defiantly from the ashes. County’s
20 minute appearance is well worth purchasing
that particular tape for. “The John Aldridge
Story” sadly only carries the briefest of NCAFC
mentions, plus his goals at Walsall in May,
1980, not much for his five years at Somerton
methinks. The much scarcer Screensport-
issued “1985 Freight Rover Trophy Final” video
included extended highlights from both Area
Finals, sadly for us though, that meant seeing
the Ironsides getting walloped 6-0 again!

Video values invariably tend to be around the £10
to £20 mark, top end and sometimes more for
those scarce, limited releases.

Ephemera

The term ‘ephemera’ normally covers those
keepsakes that so excite the majority of football
collectors; such integrally-choice items as
programmes, tickets, trade cards and so on. They
are the life blood that most avid collectors strive for
and so adoringly cherish. Most of those items have
been quite rightly covered here previously in
articles of their own; so let us take a browse at
those other less cited, but no less important
ephemeral collectibles.

Look up the word ‘ephemera’ in your dictionary
and you will find the blasphemous definition that
reads “items designed to last only for a short time,
such as programmes or posters.” Surely enough to
send a cold shiver down any dedicated anorak’s
spine. To us collectors so intent on preservation, it
is a word that merely translates as
“anything paper”. This means
ephemeral collectibles are pretty
much endless; letters, documents,
newspaper cuttings, handbills, flyers,
posters, lottery and raffle tickets,
vouchers, menus, comp-slips, song
sheets, passes, autographed pictures
and facsimile sheets. Such an array
and far too many items to cover in
depth here sadly; so instead we have
cherry-picked a few of the more
interesting examples:

Club Letters; Original letters, typed
and sent out on official club-headed
notepaper are extremely desirable, whatever their
subject matter. Such items are rather difficult to
find nowadays, as most will have met a typically
gruesome end on some local rubbish tip.
Thankfully, many do still survive and examples
featuring Newport County still surface sporadically
in auctions. An official club letter hailing from the
1960s or 70s in nice condition can command
around £15 to £25 in 2007, the 1980s versions
which carried the club crest for the first time
around £7 to £12. Older examples could fetch £30
or more. Almost all will have been signed by a club
official, usually the Secretary or Chairman.

Club Documents; This covers a multitude of
items ranging from financial accounts to those
dreaded court writs which County became so
familiar with during the late 1980s. Others include
promotional flyers, glossy brochures, share
certificates, comp-slips and media packs.
Compliment-slips have become a much sought-
after collectible, especially the older examples that
will usually fetch around £5 to £10. Later, post-
1990 versions are common and worth very little,
but watch this space! The share certificates issued
by NCAFC in the 1920s & 1990s will command
£50 and £5 respectively, and are simply the most
thrilling of keepsakes.

Autograph Sheets; Autographs have been
collected since time began. An original autograph
will always be more desirable and command a
steeper fee, but the mass-printed facsimile sheets,
issued throughout the decades by our clubs are
also highly sought. These would consist of a
singular sheet of paper carrying the printed
signature of every team member for that particular
season. Despite their not being original, they are
hugely collectible and a 1960s version issued by
Newport County could set you back a cool £15.
Earlier examples around £25 and later 1980s
facsimile sheets approx £5. Original auto-sheets,
usually self-obtained can command huge tariffs,
most notably those pre-1950s which
were usually written in pencil and can
fetch £40+. Some collectors will pay
£10 to £25 or more for an individual
signature from those periods. Even the
club-issued cards from the 2000s
which carried original NCAFC team
signatures will fetch around £8 to £12.
Autographs in the 2000s are a lucrative
business, and are always extra
desirable if obtained on a blank piece
of card or paper. Likewise, an
undedicated autograph is always more
appealing.

Menus: Club-function menus were not freely
available to the common supporter until later
times; usually, you would have relied on a kindly
player obtaining one on your behalf. The menu
that was issued for County’s promotion dinner of
1939 could fetch 3 figures today, it is incredibly
rare. It is a collectible that has been more widely
obtained since the 1970s, and most NCAFC
examples since that period can be picked up for
around £5 to £10. Desirability and price is
increased if said menu carries the odd autograph,
usually from the players that attended or guest-
speakers. The menu that was issued in 1980 for
the Ironsides’ second promotion dinner is already
rather scarce today and is valued at £15 unsigned.
The yellow ‘John Relish Testimonial Dinner’ menu
from 1984 is more widely available at around £5,
as is the ‘NCAFC 20th Anniversary Dinner’ menu
from 2000, worth a similar outlay.

Leisure Clothing

The traditional clothing items of choice relating to
our football teams have seemingly forever been
dominated by the replica shirt, scarf and woolly
hat. All three have remained absolutely essential
supporter attire for the past forty years, no matter
what your age, sex or era.

Since the turn of the 1970s though, football clubs
not only began expanding the range
of merchandise they could make
available, they also began to latch on
to the obvious fact that die-hard
supporters would willingly buy and
proudly wear almost anything that
brandished their precious team’s
moniker or crest. Fashion rarely
entered the equation. The Seventies
heralded the beginning for what
would become commonly known and
widely accepted as ‘leisure clothing’,
and from that point on, barely nothing
was sacred or exempt from bearing
the club crest. Jumpers and
sweaters began the merest of trickles that would
develop into a deluge of choice clothing items;
Newport County sweaters from that era bore the
famous Newport shield embroidered onto its
breast, and the addition of those five magical
letters underneath [NCAFC] made them absolutely
irresistible to the consumer.

By the turn of the 1980s, the
sweaters were appearing rather
regularly and somewhat plentifully;
from the classic “Amber Bar” and
“Paddy’s Bar” versions, to the now
much sought-after “Welsh Cup
Winners” example. They were
almost always black in colour with
quality gold embroidering, although
the mid-80s saw a rather fetching
grey version prize the hard-earned
from our wallets. That same decade saw the
introduction of the club sweatshirt too; and once
again, the 1980 “Promoted & Welsh Cup Winners”
version is the nugget amongst the dross. Quality
polo-shirts bearing the wonderful Ironsides crest
likewise became a 1980s “must-have” item, ditto
the club tracksuit. That era also witnessed its fair
share of instantly forgettable leisure items;
forgettable by most that is! I’m so nostalgically
sad, I still drool insatiably over those 1981
Newport County sweatbands that we successfully
marketed, and still hold such fervour for the terribly
tacky 1979 club belt that even I can admit was a
shocking eyesore. Both proclaimed us as
“Newport FC”, an elementary mistake that didn’t
seem to bother the hungry purchaser at the time.

Entering the Nineties and the subsequent drift into
the Noughties eventually brought that expected
deluge, and whilst those aforementioned sweaters,
sweatshirts, tracksuits and polo-shirts continued to
appear in their regularly updated guises, a flurry of
new lines joined them on the club shop shelves.
Coats became fair game and fans were spoilt for
choice with a selection of rain-jackets,
bench-coats and snugly fleece’s being
just the tip of the clothing iceberg. T-
shirts, casual shirts and even, [bless me
lord for what I’m about to say], goddamn
Rugby shirts kept them company! The
club tie is probably the only exception to
the above, an item that predates the
sweater, replica shirt, woolly hat et al.
Still as popular today as it was way back
in its inception I’m heartened to say, an
item that has outlived the majority of us;
and will continue to rightly do so, an item
as traditional as the Sunday roast.

All are naturally collectible fodder and are in no
way spared from the eager collector’s mucky
grasp. With regards to values, face value or less
is the norm for post 1990 clothing, usually quite
considerably less if worn and no longer pristine,
although the scarcer items can still surprise you
with the prices they fetch. The County
sweaters of the 70s and 80s will command
around £20 to £35, surprisingly few have
escaped the moths over the years and lived
to tell the tale; they are hugely collectible
and rather difficult to obtain today. Club ties
will fetch around £10 from the most recent
years, upwards to £25 or more for the older,
pre 60s and 70s versions. Finally, what of
those much maligned sweatbands and club
belt? Forgettable they most certainly may
be, but they’re extremely collectible
nonetheless; both are nigh impossible to find
nowadays and subsequently tariffs can only be
estimates. The belt is surely worth £20 of
anyone’s coin and the sweatbands, £15 to £20
easily.

Perhaps the greatest, single most beauty of the
club leisure clothing range though is its complete
lack of discrimination; it is suitable and acceptable
whether you are aged nine or ninety!

Souvenir Newspapers &
Cuttings

Most programme and general ephemera collectors
will also be highly susceptible to another tempting
item that has spanned the footballing decades in
all its glory; the enchanting souvenir newspaper.
Those unique one-off productions that were
usually issued to commemorate
achievement, big cup games, or to
herald the beginning of an exciting
new campaign have forever been
extremely desirable and sought.

The local newspapers have always
played an integral part in covering the
fortunes of Newport County, ever
since we kicked our first ball in earnest; therefore
our own local paper, the ‘South Wales Argus’ are
unsurprisingly prominent in all our collections. The
Argus have always charted County’s progress in
their publication, and there are many of us that
view the cutting-out and keeping of those match
reports and club news clippings as important as
hoarding the match programme itself. For me, no
match programme is complete unless I have
carefully trimmed the subsequent reports from the
newspapers and tucked them lovingly inside; a
practise I began as a small boy and a habit I’ve
found impossible to break no matter how old I’ve
become. The programme only
begins to resemble the
complete package once it
houses those treasured match
cuttings; indeed it appears
rather empty and naked without
such accompaniment.

To open the old programmes
from years gone by to reminisce
is interesting, but the additional poring over those
old match clippings really do unlock the cherished
memories that lie within us all. Just like the Argus,
another local South Wales paper, the ‘Western
Mail’, too has always covered County and
continues to admirably do so today; indeed their
current reporter for NCAFC is a gentleman we are
all familiar with. A certain programme editor
named Ray Taylor no less, and Ray also tirelessly
covers for Michael Pearlman in the Argus too from
time to time, thus ensuring we never have to miss
out on our latest match day happenings when
Michael is not available to attend our games. The
inclusion of match cuttings can also add an extra
pound or more to the value of your programme
and certainly makes them that extra bit special and
more desirable. The one-off souvenir newspapers
have appeared quite regularly for NCAFC over the
years; one of the oldest I have is a “Football
Argus” special edition that whetted the appetite for
our FA Cup encounter with Arsenal in 1956/7.
There’s little doubt that that issue was preceded by
countless others though; we all live in hope that
others much more senior will someday surface.
Since then, there have been many; most
frequently since the 1970s. One such publication
was issued to mark the 1977/8 season
simply entitled “Newport County”.
Another in glossier form did likewise for
1983/4, this time called “Kick-off”, a
publication of quality which included a
colour centre-spread team-group.
Both of those were issued by the
Argus, who likewise was responsible
for another 4-page souvenir in May
1980, this time called “Congratulations County”.
No prizes for guessing what that one was all
about!

In the Eighties we had “One Step to Europe”
issued in May, 1987 for the Welsh Cup Final, and
the launch of Newport AFC in 1989 brought us
“AFC News”, which was issued by the club to
herald a new dawn. The Argus roared back with
“The Boys Are Back in Town” in March, 1994 to
celebrate our homecoming, and “Exiles ‘95/6”
which commemorated our Championship of the
previous campaign. Other memorable souvenir
editions included “Somerton Swansong”
in 1993, which marked the end of an era
at our old Somerton Park ground. One of
the nicest however was a Western Mail
souvenir in March, 1981, to triumph our
famous European Quarter-final.

The Argus has kept tradition with special
issues to mark the beginning of the recent
Conference South campaigns too, and
most welcome they were. Although it should be
said, the Souvenir Newspaper isn’t solely limited to
those special issues; a full newspaper carrying the
coverage from our biggest games such as the
Shrewsbury Welsh Cup Final, or the epic Carl
Zeiss Jena showdowns carries equal desirability
and historical importance. Most souvenir
newspapers will fetch around the £5 mark,
perhaps double and then some for those older pre-
1970s issues. It was such a “read it and throw it
away” disposable product, it can hardly be
surprising that so few older examples still exist.