THEMPC prints football ‘shinies’ for under-7s’ first season

Captain Ernie Marsh with his trading card
Captain Ernie Marsh with his trading card

THEMPC printed a personalised run of football collectables to mark the end of the Basingstoke Colts’ under-sevens team’s first season.

The Hampshire printing and marketing company put its new in-house print facility - opened in May - to good use producing cards, stickers, and sticker books for the young side, which it sponsors.

The team’s 22 players were presented with their collections on 8 June.

Paul Marsh, director of THEMPC and assistant manager for the team, said the idea struck him after thinking about his own love of the Panini World Cup sticker books.

He said: “Collecting and trading football cards is timeless fun, and the kids absolutely loved them.

“Who knows, maybe some of our players will join the England squad in future and these cards will become highly sought after. For now, we’re just happy they’ve brought some extra fun to the end of a fantastic first season.”

Each player was presented with a sticker book with photos of the team, coaches, and supporters, and stickers for every player that could be arranged in their chosen team formation on a dedicated centre page.

Players likewise received several copies of their own personal football card, which they could trade with team-mates to build their team, as well as one gold-foiled shiny sticker of themselves.

The sticker book, stickers and cards were all printed on a Canon ImagePress C810 digital press and cut on a Duplo DC-618 Pro multi-finisher.

The sticker book and stickers were then foiled on a Vivid Matrix 370 MP digital foiler-laminator.