Once in a while

Once in a while I get a message asking if I’m interested in a football shirt, normally a Brighton shirt, and just recently I had such a message. Would I be interested in a 1977 matchworn Brighton away shirt? I thought for a millisecond and decided that yes I was. I was sent a couple of photos and then I set about checking the credentials. No colour photos (that I could find) existed of Brighton players in away shirts from 1977, I checked all the programmes from the season on www.seagullsprogrames.co.uk , all I could deduce from the few B&W photos was that we wore a solid, darker colour shirt, with a Brighton badge and Bukta wordmark, and that the sleeves had Bukta taping running dow them, but still no clue on the colour. 

I made contact with the Club historian and asked him what he knew. Tim is a legend and a short time later sent me an excerpt from an away programme at Oldham Athletic which described our kit as “Red Shirts with white motifs on the arms”, at last I knew for certain that we had red away kits that season, and that this shirt was correct.

I replied to the original message and was able to agree a deal, a few days later a Special Delivery arrived with a glorious, red, Bukta players shirt from the 1977-1978 season. I’m certain of its provenance as I know and trust the source. I know it’s a players shirt as no replicas were ever made or sold, and the giveaway is the embroidered badge which only the players shirts of that era had. This goes alongside my home match shirt from the same season as my oldest Brighton shirts.

I’m yet to get a message offering me a Brighton shirt from before 1977 ;-)