Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Bristol Post
Bristol Post
Sport
James Piercy

Why a worn, sweaty, muddy Bristol City shirt is yours for £350

Fancy celebrating what could be a historic season for Bristol City by purchasing the very shirt Matty Taylor wore to head his goal against Wigan Athletic. Well, it's going to set you back a few quid.

The Robins have become the first club  in English football to partner with Dutch company MatchWornShirt who do exactly what they say by auctioning signed match-day shirts, complete with the unwashed blood, sweat and tears produced by the players over the course of the match.

Launched in Amsterdam in October 2017 by former lawyers and brothers Tijmen and Bob Zonderwijk, having partnered with a host of clubs in the Dutch Eredivisie they are now linking up with English teams and Bristol City are the first.

'The fans could have a big role to play' - What we think will happen during Bristol City v West Brom 

Tijmen and Bob were at Ashton Gate on Saturday to received their 'fresh' bag of shirts from club kitman Scott Murray before the players signed the numbers as they left the dressing room.

The proceeds will go towards the club's designated charity, in this case, the Bristol City's Community Trust’s Disability Football Programme, and with 24 hours before the auction from the Wigan game closes, there are some surprisingly high bids.

Taylor's No10 shirt, with the forward completing the full 90 minutes following a right old physical tussle with Wigan defenders Cedric Kipre and Chey Dunkley, is currently at €203 (£175) having received an opening bid of €103, while Bristol City's most consistent performer this season Adam Webster's is topping €275 (£237), although the sweat content may be a little reduced as the defender only played 60 minutes.

City's most valued shirt so far is on-loan Chelsea left-back Jay Dasilva with an unnamed bidder from the Netherlands placing a whopping €407 (£350) on the table, topping a previous €157 (£135) offer from Australia.

It begs the question, just what is the worldwide interest in sweaty, stinky, muddy football shirts?

"A match worn, muddy and personally autographed shirt is emotion wrapped in a one-out-of-one unique memorabilia item," explains Tijmen.

"Our customers vary from diehard fans to businesses and even to 'investors'.

West Brom struck by sickness bug ahead of Bristol City encounter 

"With the amounts of money going on in today's football, some people see the shirts as investments. For example, we sold an FC Groningen shirt of the next best thing of the Japanese national team - Ritsu Doan - to a customer who sees the next Virgil van Dijk, Arjen Robben or Luis Suarez in him.

"Imagine what this shirt will be worth when he ends up playing for Manchester United or FC Barcelona."

That Ritsu Doan Groningen shirt fetched €875 with the highest they have received being €2,700 for a Feyenoord top worn by Dirk Kuyt.

The idea was born from when Tijmen and Bob wanted to buy a special gift for their father when he switched jobs and tried unsuccessfully to source a worn shirt. 

The company are setting up a London office in July with the plan to partner with the Premier League's finest.

"We are not collectors ourselves, just fans but wanted to purchase a special gift for our father's new office," added Tijmen.

"He's not into art of photography but we wanted to give him something special that would immediately start off conversations when new colleagues would walk into his office but we couldn't get a shirt since there was no platform to buy one."

The Bristol City v Wigan auction is running until 3pm (GMT) on Wednesday.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.