Meet the man with a museum of footballs

Mitre footballs have become synonymous with the "beautiful game" but for Simon Francis they are a passion project.

Francis has a collection of 79 of the brand's footballs dating back decades on display in his Devon home. "I really enjoy this being like a museum of Mitre footballs," he said.

The collection he started 12 years ago was inspired by the set of the Sky TV programme Soccer AM, which had balls and boots displayed behind the presenters and guests.

The 44-year-old said it was only ever going to be the "Mitre, with the multiple arrows". "It's all about that design for me because that was the football of my childhood," he said.

"I was 10 year old when the Premier League was born in 1992 and my friends and I just fell in love with football at that point," Francis said.

"We were always having to buy the cheaper balls but as I matured and you get a little bit more spending money, I decided to start collecting the balls I could never afford as a child."

Francis from Modbury, who supports both Norwich City and Plymouth Argyle, said he was "surprised by how many different varieties of ball there were" and "it snowballed from there".

Mitre has created footballs for more than 200 years and is renowned as one of the country's biggest sports manufacturers, with its balls consecutively used at every FA Cup Final for 40 years.

Francis said he bought the footballs through online auction sites, charity shops, and collectors fairs.

"This is a collection of footballs that nobody else really wanted, hence why they now live in my home with me."

Francis explained why the collection had to be Mitre: "Any person of my age, between say 35 and 50, who has used one of these balls and caught it on the half volley and buried it in the top corner, knows there was no better ball to play football with."

Francis said his two favourites were the Mitre Pro-Max, which was used in the inaugural Premier League season in 1992, and the Mitre Elite, the first ball in his collection which he was gifted as a mascot for Norwich in a game at Torquay United in 1996 and was signed by the players and manager.

"For me the fun is finding something that I haven't seen before, a colour, a particular name of the ball," he said.

Francis said on average he spent about £50 per ball, with some bought for £100 and others for just £10.

"That's not where the value is - the value comes from the time it's taken to amass the collection."

He said he was "dumbfounded" when a man offered him £12,000 for the collection.

"Did it make me think for a minute? Yes, it did, but I was concerned that I had a decision to make.

"I don't feel like my collection is finished, I certainly still enjoy collecting and I'm looking forward to seeing what else is still out there."

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