Football fanatic with over 500 of the rarest shirts in the game

Football fan Tavy Liddington, 24, from Cornwall has collected over a whopping 500 football shirts in the last four years.

Tavy’s huge collection of football shirts range from replica Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, and Serie A 90s shirts, as well as match worn shirts from club legends such as John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, and Petr Cech.

The 24-year-old said, “I’ve always been a fan of football since I was very young, so I managed to always have the kits when I was younger … at the age of 20, I started to pick up a few things from classic football shirts.”

There is a big community of football shirt sellers and collectors on Twitter. Tavy, known as @CornsihShirt on the platform, joined Twitter in lockdown “as a way of showing and demonstrating my collection, seeing what other people had and discussing the fine qualities of some of the shirts.”

Tavy’s main interest is in “match shirts, whether be issued or worn, there’s something just really unique about them, you don’t quite get when buying the player issue versions, even though people always say there isn’t a difference, there are tiny differences and that makes the difference for me.”

When asked about his best tips for finding shirts, Tavy said, “the best place to pick up shirts on a bargain is eBay, but the biggest tip is to learn what makes a shirt legitimate. Know that the Inter Milan should have a stitched Umbro with a felt Bareli and a stitched crest, the codes on the Umbro tag, learn the tips from the ‘They Think Kits All Over’ podcast … for me the biggest tip for getting into shirt collecting is know your stuff.”

“I try to collect as many perfect shirts as possible.” Said Tavy, who depends on the value of a football shirt on “the league, the player, and how long they have worn it.” Therefore, his hobby can rack up an expensive cost; Tavy has “seen shirts that have been worn for 2 or 3 minutes and been sold for hundreds of pounds, it is ridiculous.”

Football shirt collecting comes with its own host of problems, such as sellers listing counterfeit shirts in attempt to rip off the buyers. When coming across a fake shirt seller, Tavy said, “I call it out if it is through Twitter, but if it is through eBay there is not much you can do because of how awful the eBay report systems are, same with Depot and Vinted. ‘’I do not think there is a solution which is a shame, you can’t trust everyone, you have got to form a real good relationship.”

Football shirt collecting can be seen as a hobby for most people, but some people get into it purely as in investment and for profit. Tavy said, “I am not in it to make money, I am in it because I enjoy it, I know there are quite a few people who are in it to make money, and it is not my favourite thing in the world, because they pose as collectors but they are not and we see that a lot in the community, they are just trying to make money off people and do it in sly ways. If I get a bargain, I like to pass it on.”

Professional footballers often have their match worn shirts auctioned off at soaring prices for people to buy. But nothing had ever come close to Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ shirt worn at the 1986 World Cup which sold at an auction for record of £7.1 million, in May 2022. The question is will this extortionate price ever be topped? Tavy said, “Pele’s 1970 jersey, now that he has passed, will be closer. Bobby Moore’s 1966 could be worth that in England, but to be honest Maradona’s shirt is so iconic I don’t think anything will come as close.”

Credit photos: Cornish shirt Collector on Twitter