The team that refused to die: Match programme fetches £2,000
THE final whistle may have blown more than half a century ago but it’s the club which refuses to go away.
In the latest example of the nation’s enduring fascination with Third Lanark, an old match programme featuring the defunct football team has sold for a record price.
Experts say sums paid for football club memorabilia have been soaring since lockdown began, with collectors and fans alike spending more time browsing online auction sites.
But even devotees of Third Lanark, nicknamed the Hi-Hi, who played their last competitive game in 1967, struggle to explain the popularity of the side.
As interest in the team, who played at Cathkin Park in Glasgow’s South Side, continues to grow, a programme for a game against Rangers in August 1947 attracted a frenzy of bids last week, eventually selling to an unnamed purchaser for £1,950. Commenting on the sale, Pat McGeady, who owns a large collection of Third Lanark memorabilia, said: ‘Prices have gone through the roof.’
Four years ago, a programme for the Scottish Cup final between Third Lanark and Rangers in 1936 sold for £1,600 but last week’s sale is thought to be the
highest for a game involving the Hi-Hi.