Forget replica shirts, scarves, and face paint—for the dedicated 19th-century football fan, the must-have accessory wasn’t worn, but tucked into the band of their hat.
In the golden age of Victorian and Edwardian football, a simple piece of printed cardboard—the early football trading card—served as the era’s ultimate sign of loyalty and a crucial piece of ephemeral street fashion. To understand this trend, you first have to look at the trading card itself. Unlike today’s high-gloss collectibles, the earliest football cards emerged in the 1880s as trade cards and cigarette cards.
Initially, these small, colourful lithographs were inserted into packets of tobacco, tea, or sweets. Their primary purpose was simple: to stiffen the packaging and entice customers—especially the growing market of young boys—to choose one brand over another. The images were not always precise photographic portraits; many were charming, often generic, illustrations of players, teams, or club shields.
The cards quickly became highly desirable due to a clever marketing strategy:
- Competitions: Issuers like the pioneering John Baines of Bradford would run “lucky bag” or full-set competitions, offering prizes like a new football or a team jersey in exchange for a full set of cards. This drove frenzied collecting and trading.
- Rarity: Some shapes and designs, like the earliest octagons or shield-shaped cards, were made in smaller quantities, giving them a premium status.
From Pocket to Peak: The Fashion Statement
The journey of the card from a marketing gimmick to a piece of clothing décor was a natural extension of its social value.
Football was rapidly professionalising and capturing the imagination of the working class. The industrial era’s supporter needed a visible, affordable way to broadcast their allegiance on match days.
The standard attire for many working men included a cap or a bowler hat. The hatband offered the perfect, conspicuous canvas. By carefully sliding a card featuring a favourite player or the club’s shield into the band, the fan immediately established their identity.
The card acted as a personal, portable club badge, proclaiming: “I am here, and this is my team/hero.” Unlike a scarf, which was often a luxury, a hat was necessity, making the card a democratic fashion choice.
Because Baines and others encouraged the collection of cards to win prizes, the act of collecting was viewed as a quest or a gamble. Displaying a particularly rare or a new card in one’s hat was a form of braggadocio. It was a visible sign that the wearer was a serious collector and a dedicated follower of the game.
It was a primitive form of the “flex”—showing off the newest, best, or hardest-to-find player to your friends on the terrace. The hat became a dynamic, changing trophy case for the individual supporter.
Ironically, this trend of wearing the cards contributed directly to their rarity today. Cards worn in a hat were exposed to rain, smoke, and the general rough-and-tumble of the early football crowd.
- The corners were often bent.
- The surface might be grimy or marked.
- They were easily lost to a strong wind or a celebratory jump.
Collectors today prize the few pristine examples that survive, often unaware that the very act of display that made them desirable in the 1890s is what ruined most of them for posterity. The card shown above was produced in 1889!