If you are anything like me, over the past twelve months you will have enjoyed many sporting events, including The British and Irish Lions tour, which started with a narrow defeat by the Argentinian Pumas in a great game in Dublin then with a massively successful tour in Australia.
In the same month Royal Ascot came about with all the glitz and glamour that it normally does, with a fantastic array of horses – and of course hats! with a great season of racing that followed this year.
Both of these events have not only a strong following from armchair enthusiasts such as myself, but also people enthuse on a whole different level, those that wish to take their support or interest to the next level, I am of course talking about the sporting ephemera collector.
We have all been to charity auctions, and some of us have even taken them, where a football star decides that (or is told that) giving a pair of his (or her) boots should be sold for the benefit of a charity, and usually this is greeted with tremendous appreciation, and means a lot of money raised for good causes, but the upper echelons of sports memorabilia can make some people wince with the thought of how much one can pay for such items…
If we are talking about the big leagues, you can only really start with the major league of sports collectibles, the ‘home run’ if you will…..
The Babe Ruth ‘Called Shot’ World Series Jersey – $24.12 million dollars of baseballs finest, sold in 2024, it was and remains the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia, which is incredible really, when you consider that the vast majority of the world has no comprehension of how baseball actually works…Just be thankful there is nothing about cricket to follow.
For anyone that watched the fantastically interesting recent Michael Jordan documentary, you probably won’t be surprised to see that pairs of his sneakers (trainers to those in the United Kingdom) have sold for millions of dollars in the past, with this jersey from the 1998 “Last Dance” final, selling in 2022 for $10.1 million dollars, which again is an American sport that has a slightly larger global outreach than baseball.
In August 2025 another Michael Jordan collectible, (yes, he really is that popular) came to the market amongst a lot of anticipation within the sports collectibles field. The ‘Logoman’ collectors trading car that features both the signatures of Jordan, and fellow basketball icon, – the late, great Kobe Bryant. With the two most well-known players in history on one card, you would think that it should make a lot of money at auction, and you would be very, very right. $12.9 Million dollars, beating the previous record of $12.6 million for baseball’s second most famous son – Mickey Mantle, which sold in 2022.
The Stanley Wakefield Jersey worn by the player during the Lions 1924 tour of South Africa is probably one of the holy grails of all Lions items, selling at a local sports auction in 2023 for £18,500. Wakefield, considered one of the greatest all round sportsmen of his generation wore this blue shirt (quite different from the current bright red version) for the tour and enjoyed a healthy sports life of being ballroom champion, South African boxing champion, Olympian, International Tennis and Polo player, all that whilst serving with distinction in both world wars – not something you see from many modern sports stars!
So, whilst we are looking at Rugby, possibly the most impressive item to have ever come up for auction was the 1973 Barbarians jersey worn by Gareth Edwards against the All Blacks…
Cardiff Arms Park on the 27th January 1973, and universally regarded as the best try to have ever been scored by a mere mortal against an opposing team who were virtually unbeatable in this period, Edwards ran the entire length of the pitch and scored for the Baa-Baas, in an almost impossible fashion.
The jersey made £288,000 at a local saleroom in 2023 and became the most expensive piece of rugby memorabilia ever sold.
Has this last tour brought such career defining moments? Despite the clear success, it’s very difficult to tell, but putting on the Lions Jersey will always be one of the most important and proudest moments of a Rugby Union players professional life.
Looking forward to 2026, of course the Football World Cup, Winter Olympics, and many other annual events will take place, and undoubtedly more memories and memorabilia will be created.