Arjan Wijngaard was given an Everton shirt 25 years ago. His life has not been the same since
By Josh Butler for These Football Times
W hat do you do when you have nearly 3,000 football shirts in your possession? If you are the Dutch football fan and collector Arjan Wijngaard, you allocate a room in your house as an exhibition space and log every single shirt you buy in a comprehensive online catalogue. Arjan has been collecting shirts from around the globe for the past 25 years, beginning with an Everton kit he was given in 1997, and he now boasts one of the largest, if not the largest, personal collections in Europe.
What drew him to the idea of collecting shirts? “Of course, I liked football. That is an important thing if you want to collect shirts. There is no particular reason why I chose shirts, though. Some people choose scarves – I have some scarves as well because, if I can’t get a shirt when I visit a stadium or a game, I try to buy a scarf instead. Actually, maybe I should have chosen scarves or pins; they are a lot cheaper and don’t need that much space!”
Take a wander into Arjan’s showroom and it is easy to see what he means. The walls are fitted with racks that groan beneath the enormous weight of his collection. The door is an incongruous rectangle of white in an otherwise ubiquitous banquet of colour. And in the window stand two mannequins in green and blue raiment. It is a veritable sacrarium of shirts – from clubs grand and small. “In general I like to collect shirts from clubs that are not very easy to find,” says Arjan. “Like lower and non-league, for example, steps nine and 10 of the English pyramid or clubs from countries not known as famous football countries, like New Zealand or Tanzania.”
Why did Arjan set up the website Voetbal Shirts to display his shirts? “There were a few reasons. Firstly, it is to show others what I have. Secondly, for the insurance to prove I had all the shirts if there is a fire or robbery. Also, having my collection online makes it easier for me to see what I’ve already got, especially when I am looking for new ones online or when I am in shops abroad.”
Before the pandemic, Arjan travelled abroad five times a year to buy shirts, with around half of these trips to Britain. “I prefer to get them personally from the club shop near the stadium, but that’s not always possible,” he says. “Other options are online club shops and, of course, eBay but also groups on Facebook and other collectors here in the Netherlands, abroad and on Twitter. Over the years, I have made contacts all over the world and that is also a fun part of collecting.”
“All the things that come with collecting are maybe even nicer than having the shirts. The visits to the stadiums, searching online, getting in contact with people, meeting other collectors and volunteers who are proud of their club and want to help me to add a shirt or their club to the collection is great. Shirt collecting has given me a lot of positive things besides the shirts themselves: lots of talking about shirts and football, and helping each other through our mutual passion for shirts.”
With nearly 3,000 shirts to choose from, it must be difficult to single one out, but he does have a favourite. “There is one old FC Groningen shirt that is a favourite because it is a rare one – matchworn and almost 40 years old.” Like most of his shirts, Arjan does not wear it for recreational purposes – although not necessarily for the reason most people might expect. “I tend not to wear my shirts because not all of them are in my size any more! I don’t wear football shirts very often. I don’t want to damage them. But, actually, some I have double: one for the collection and one to wear.”
Even though his showroom appears to have reached the point of saturation, Arjan is working through a shortlist of shirts – with one he covets above all others. “There is one shirt I really want to add to my collection, a matchworn Groningen cup final shirt from 2015. Groningen is my local team and they have only won one trophy: the Dutch cup. As I said before, I like shirts from non-league clubs I don’t have yet. So, if there are people who are reading this and think they can help me with a shirt from their local non-league club, don’t hesitate to contact me!”
Arjan’s love affair with Groningen served as a gateway to his lifelong affinity for football and kits. “Groningen is my local team. I have had a season ticket for almost 30 years and the stadium is only 10 minutes away by bike. My opinion is that you always have to support your local team. But Everton was my first shirt. I guess I like to support people’s clubs. Everton, Groningen and Feyenoord really are people’s clubs.”
As one of the old guard in the relatively recent phenomenon of shirt collecting, what does the future hold for Arjan? “I have no plans to stop!” he says. “As long as I like it and have the space to continue, I shan’t stop.”
This article is from These Football Times Find These Football Times and Josh Butler on Twitter