Three rare UK Football programs, each featuring an advertisement for the Sex Pistols debut single, ‘Anarchy in the U.K.’, and the Anarchy in the UK tour.

‘Anarchy’ was released–or unleashed on– the UK on November 26, 1976. To promote the single and the December Anarchy tour (with the Pistols, Damned, Clash and Heartbreakers), Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren placed advertisements in four English soccer programs.  This lot includes three of the four.

The Ipswich Town program features a full-page Pistols ad, measures 8” square, and is in near mint condition. The Bristol City program features a half-page ad, and is in excellent condition with a soft, barely noticeable vertical crease; it measures 7” x 9”.  The Manchester City program features a similar half-page ad, measures 7 ¼” x 9”, and is in excellent condition, with a small crease in the bottom right corner.

Each of the programs date from November/December 1976, and feature different lineups of concert dates—many of the dates on this tour were cancelled, as local authorities didn’t want the scourge of Punk invading their towns.

One commentator noted that McLaren knew that a concert audience of football hooligans was far more likely to generate press coverage…many of the early instigators of the punk scene were football fans… At the very least, the ads are prima facia evidence of McLaren’s brilliant and unusual marketing of the tour that brought punk into the public eye.

Only the second set of these programs we’ve seen.