Sideline Staples: Building a Highland Club Programme That Earns Its Keep

The gate at a Highland club is a small economy all of its own. Somebody is taking coins, somebody is selling raffle strips, and somewhere near the turnstile there is usually a volunteer with a stack of programmes and a damp ten-pound note. It would be easy to write that stack off as nostalgia. It is not. A well-made season programme still does a job that a phone screen does badly in horizontal rain: it tells you who is playing, who has paid for the pitch, and where the next fixture is.

The case for the club programme is not sentimental. It is practical. A slim booklet can pay for itself through local advertising, give sponsors something they can hold, and hand supporters a compact record of the season. It also gives the club a voice that is not owned by an algorithm. The catch is that it has to be built for the touchline, not for a coffee-table.

Start With the Fixture List, Not the Fantasy

A lot of club programmes get into trouble because they begin as a magazine and end as a deadline. The sensible starting point is the opposite: a fixture list, a squad list, a short welcome, a sponsor page, and the contact details people actually need. Twelve to sixteen A5 pages will cover most Highland clubs comfortably. If the booklet cannot fit in a coat pocket or behind a windscreen, it has already failed the first test.

That does not mean it has to look plain. A strong cover image, a clear club crest, and a readable typeface will do more than a dozen filler pages. Think of the programme as a matchday tool and a village noticeboard. It should answer the questions people ask at the gate: who is playing, when is the next away game, who runs the minibus, and where can I buy a club hoodie?

The Page Count That Fits a Coat Pocket

Saddle stitching works in four-page sections, so keep the pagination simple. A 12-page A5 booklet is three folded sheets. A 16-page version gives you room for more advertising and a couple of longer pieces without turning into a burden. Beyond that, the editorial work tends to outgrow the volunteer hours available.

A useful split is eight pages of core content and four to eight pages of advertising. The core can include fixtures, a short season diary, player introductions, committee contacts, and a page of community notices. If the club runs several teams, give each one a clear block rather than scattering the information. Supporters want to find things quickly, especially when the rain is coming in sideways.

Paper That Takes a Dousing

Highland weather is not a design preference. It is a specification. A programme printed on thin, glossy paper will turn into a flannel before half-time. For the inside pages, 100–120gsm uncoated stock is a good balance: light enough to fold, sturdy enough to survive a pocket. The cover should be 250–300gsm with a matt finish. Gloss covers look smart in the clubhouse but can stick together in damp hands.

Keep the binding simple. Two wire staples on the spine are ideal for a slim A5 booklet. Perfect binding is not your friend here; it does not like being rolled up or shoved into a jacket. If the budget is tight, a single-colour inside section can bring the cost down without making the programme feel cheap. The important thing is that the pages open easily and the ink does not offset when the booklet is folded.

Selling the Spaces Without Selling the Club Short

Advertising is where the programme either pays its way or becomes another raffle prize nobody wants. Start with the businesses already connected to the ground: the local garage, the butcher, the café, the joiner, the hotel that sponsors the away bus. They do not need a hard sell. They need a clear rate, a simple deadline, and a realistic idea of how many people will see the booklet.

Offer a small menu of options rather than a confusing grid. A quarter-page advert, a half-page advert, and a fixture sponsor line will cover most small businesses. Keep the prices sensible for the area and publish them. A club that invents a different price for every caller creates resentment and extra admin. Ask for print-ready files where possible, and offer a basic template for the businesses that only have a logo on a phone.

Be honest about distribution. A programme that says 500 copies will be printed is not the same as 500 copies in the hands of supporters. If 150 go through the gate, 60 go to season ticket holders, and 40 sit in village shops, say so. Sponsors respect a realistic number more than a grand claim. Keep advertising to roughly a third or a little over a third of the booklet. Any more and the fixtures start to feel like small print.

Getting It Into Hands

The best programme in the Highlands is worthless if it stays in a box in the clubhouse. Put a table at the gate with a clear price, and make sure the volunteer has a float and a dry bag. Some clubs include the programme with entry; others sell it for a pound or two. Either can work, but decide before the first home game and stick to it.

Spread copies beyond the ground. Village shops, the pub, the community hall, the school office, and the local café are all sensible drop-off points. Leave a small stack at the away bus pickup. Give one to each sponsor, framed or not. Keep a few dry copies for the committee and the archive. A simple social media post on Friday saying where copies can be found will do more than a pile of posters.

The Little Ledger After the Final Whistle

A club programme does not need a finance department, but it does need a note after each home game. Count what is left. Note which adverts got mentioned at the gate. Check whether the fixture list was right. Ask the person selling them what people said. A one-page record is enough: print cost, advertising income, copies sold, copies given away, and one thing to change next time.

That little ledger is how a stapled spine starts to hold more than paper. It holds a season of local trust. If the advertising covers the print bill before the first copy is sold, the programme is already earning its keep. If it does not, the ledger tells you where to trim. Either way, the club ends the season with something better than a memory of a wet Saturday: a small, useful publication that belonged to the place it was made.