The heat is on! Just four teams left and Grand finals only a fortnight away.

Interstate teams dominating the AFL. A Victorian team, a Queensland team and two NSW teams left in the NRL. Who would have thought?

We’re blessed with two awesome football codes and there is some great footy still to be played this year.

There is lots going on in the world of Footy Card collecting at the moment too.

Predictor cards are dominating trade with collectors scrambling to get the cards they need to redeem the big value sets. More on this in the Card Spotlight section shortly.

In addition to the excitement of Predictor Cards, September brings with it excitement of other kinds.

I was reminded by one of our readers — Robert — of how much fun it can be to collect players signatures on the footy cards.

Robert collects signatures with his son Joshua and being mad Rooster fans in the NRL they focus on collecting the Roosters players signatures.

Robert shared this with me in an email (which he has kindly agreed to share with you) about collecting signatures with Josh…

“It’s great to have the memories to look back on, especially since the kids can come face to face with their heroes. For the kids it’s priceless, and for me it’s something special that Josh and I share.”

Robert and I got started talking about collecting signatures because he was looking for advice on the best type of Autograph pen — one that didn’t smudge on the card and wouldn’t fade over time.

In my opinion Sharpies are the best and I’ll share more with you in the Collectors Tips Section below.

But before we get to the pens, lets talk some more about the excitement of getting signed cards yourself.

Collectors have always loved to have cards of their favourite players. It’s an even bigger thrill when you get your favourite player’s autograph on a card!

You often find players signing cards at Fan Day events, sponsor events, at team training sessions and even after games. You might even be lucky enough to run in to a player in a shopping centre too.

Some collectors will even mail a player his or her own card to sign. In this case, you should send a stamped, self addressed envelope with the card. The card you send should not be an especially valuable one as there is no guarantee that the player will send it back.

Please keep in mind that some Footy Clubs deny ALL requests like this because they receive so many and too many people sell them on ebay rather than keeping them for their own collection like a true fan.

Autographed cards are often the ones most in demand because they are so valuable. Unfortunately player’s signatures can be forged and unless you are a hand writing expect, you can’t be certain that an autograph is real when you’re buying from someone else.

This is recognised as a large problem on ebay.

Sometimes cards will come with a Certificate of Authenticity (COA). A certificate of authenticity guarantees that the real player has signed the card. However, these certificates can also be forged and are often not worth the paper they’re printed on.

If you are an autograph seeker, the only sure method is to get the signatures yourself.

The next best option is to buy from recognised and respected companies that are licensed by the AFL and NRL because they must pass tougher security checks. Companies such as Select — manufacturers of the licensed AFL and NRL footy cards that we bring to you.

If you’re lucky enough to get a Footy Star to sign your football card the signature becomes much more meaningful for YOU because YOU got the autograph yourself. You know it’s real because you watched it get signed!

Make sure you have an autograph pen with you (Sharpies are the best in my opinion) whenever you go to a game, or training session and hang around the area where the teams come out.

Just last night I took my own advice. Inspired by Robert, I went to the Broncos Vs Knights Elimination Final at Aussie Stadium with my wife Emma and son Robbie. With us was my Brother, Mark and his fiancee, Danielle.

We took two team sets of each team, along with a number of inserts for Broncos and Knights players from the last 2 years. We also took a number of Sharpies pens with us.

We had a great night… we collected 16 signatures from players such as:

• Petro Civoniceva
• Karmichael Hunt
• Brian Carney
• Kurt Gidley
• Reegan Tanner
• Tonie Carroll, and
• Sam Thaiday

We also managed to get the Logo Cards signed by the two coaches… Wayne Bennett and Michael Hagan (his last game as Knights Coach).

Best of all though… was that natural high you get when the adrenalin pumps through your veins when you get the signature of the players.

As you could imagine there were hundreds of fans all trying get a signature from their favourite player.

I noticed one thing in common, it was the polite and patient fans who asked nicely for signatures who got them. The loud, rude and pushy fans who “demanded” signatures missed out.

To all the kids reading this newsletter… Always be polite to the players. There are hundreds of people who would love to have their autograph and if you’re patient and polite you may just get one yourself.

You may be wondering what I plan to do with the signed cards that we collected?

Some I’ll keep because I like the player.

Most however I will randomly give away to readers of this newsletter who buy either Newcastle or Broncos Team sets from our web site over the next few months.

I’m sure you will value them highly because you’re a real footy card collector.

Kind regards,

Ian

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