WOULD you ball-ieve it?

Football fans will have a chance to get their hands on rare Blackburn Rovers memorabilia when it goes under the hammer.

Top lots to be auctioned off at Sotheby's include a red England versus Ireland cap which was awarded to Rovers left winger William Townley in 1890.

The cap - which is expected to fetch up to £1,000 - is thought to be one of the oldest surviving England football caps.

And experts at the auction house are hoping that the lucky buyer will be able to shed some light on its soccer secret - for players in England versus Ireland matches usually received white caps!

William Townley's claim to fame came after he became the first player to score a hat trick in a FA Cup Final helping Rovers to a convincing 6-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday in The Roses FA Cup Final in 1890. Auctioneer Graham Budd said: "It was a strange and very unique set of circumstances because the England team played two matches on the same day against Wales and against Ireland.

"They used to adopt a colour coded system for the caps so if you played against Wales it was red, if it was Ireland it was a white cap and against Scotland it was a purple cap.

"But this is a little bit of an anomaly because this cap is red, even though the match was against Ireland."

In the same auction at Sotheby's tomorrow is a signed photograph of Blackburn-born England goalkeeper Jack Hacking.

Jack started his life as a shop assistant at the Blackburn Co-op where he began playing football for the Blackburn Co-op works team and also turned out for Blackburn Rovers reserves.

He later spent eight seasons with Oldham Athletic before being signed by Manchester United in the latter stages of the 1933-34 season. The photograph is part of a lot of Oldham Athletic memorabilia.