Harry Langton Collection facts for kids

The Harry Langton Collection is an amazing group of items about the history of football. It also includes some items about rugby. This collection is super important for two big museums: the National Football Museum in Manchester, England, and the World Rugby Museum at Twickenham Stadium.

What is the Harry Langton Collection?

This special collection holds many cultural and sporting treasures. It shows how football and rugby have changed over time. You can find old prints, paintings, and antiques related to these sports. It's like a time capsule for sports fans!

Harry Langton: The Collector

Harry Langton (born November 10, 1929, died September 6, 2000) was a sports journalist. He worked for a British newspaper called the Daily Express. In 1972, he decided to retire early. He then started his own business, Sports Design, in London. His company sold cool sporting prints.

Harry loved football more than anything. He started buying old sports prints, paintings, and antiques. At first, not many people were interested in football items. But Harry kept collecting. Over 20 years, he gathered a huge amount of football art and antiques. These items showed the long and global history of the game.

A Collection Grows

In 1981, Harry showed some of his collection. Sir Stanley Rous, a former leader of the Football Association, saw it and loved it! This made Harry want to collect even more. He dreamed of sharing his collection with everyone.

His collection started to get attention from other countries too. Some pieces traveled to Germany for a bank opening in Munich. Others were shown as photos in Basel, Switzerland, in 1982. In 1987, Harry finally put on a big show called 'Football Art – the Langton Collection' in London.

Traveling the World

The collection became even more famous when it joined an exhibition in Newcastle in 1988. This show lasted two months. Then it moved to Sunderland in January 1989. An Italian promoter saw it there. He thought it would be perfect for the 1990 Football World Cup in Italy!

So, the collection traveled to Rome. It was officially opened by Silvio Berlusconi, a famous Italian businessman. Many people visited the exhibition during the World Cup.

The next year, in 1991, some rugby items from the collection were shown. This was for the 1991 Rugby World Cup. Later, the Rugby Football Union bought these rugby items. They are now part of the World Rugby Museum. In 1994, the entire collection crossed the Atlantic Ocean. It went to New York City for the next World Cup. It was displayed at Sotheby's, a famous auction house.

Finding a Home: The National Football Museum

Moving and taking care of such a large collection was a big job. So, in 1996, the Langton collection was sold. It became the FIFA Museum Collection. With help from the Heritage Lottery Fund, it became the main part of the National Football Museum. This museum opened in Deepdale Preston in February 2001.

Harry Langton continued to help the museum. He worked as a consultant, finding new pieces to fill any gaps. Sadly, Harry passed away in September 2000, before the museum officially opened.

In 2006, Harry's wife, Ann Langton (born September 9, 1929, died February 12, 2013), created a book of football poems. It was called Saved, A Rare Anthology of Football from Homer to Gazza. She launched it at the National Football Museum.

Later, the National Football Museum moved to the Urbis building in Manchester. It reopened there on July 6, 2012.

The Collection's New Name

After Ann Langton passed away in 2013, the museum's director wrote to her family. He said that without Harry and Ann, there would be no FIFA Collection and no National Football Museum. He thanked them for their huge contribution.

In early 2016, FIFA and the National Football Museum renamed the collection. It is now called The FIFA-Langton Collection. This new name helps avoid confusion with other FIFA museums. It also honors Harry Langton for his amazing work in collecting football history and art.