The phenomenon of collecting football stickers ahead of this year’s World Cup has well and truly found its’ way to Kent.

Men in their thirties are said to be going back to their childhood and heading to the local newsagents in their numbers as they fill their Panini books ahead of Rio.

With the World Cup just a few weeks away and hopes of England qualifying beyond the group stages as high as ever, it appears that the men folk of Kent are going out in their hundreds and thousands to collect the images of their idols.

A story in today’s The Sun showed that the sixth largest volume of sticker sales was happening in Gillingham.

Once meant to be a hobby for young boys and even teenagers, the desire to fill your album by swapping with your mates seems to have carried on through the generations.

As someone that collected Panini stickers from the World Cup in 1978, I know how much the lure of wanting to complete your album before your mates gets to you.

In the following years, up to about 1992, I believe I (or my parents) must have spent thousands of pounds on stickers.

Every year I would be in the playground with my pile of swapsies, always trying to get a good deal by securing that vital missing badge in exchange of some random player you had four of and no one had ever heard of.

Still in my thirties (only just), have I missed out on something this year by not getting involved?

I picked up the album when in Tesco a few weeks ago – for my five year old daughter of course. So far, I have resisted the temptation of buying any stickers, as it’s like a drug. Once you have started, there is no stopping.

Is it only right and proper that I pass down through the generations the joy and anguish of trying to fill a sticker album, or do I stick all the money I would have spent into a piggy bank and save a small fortune?

Whatever happens, I am sure there are loads of blokes my age reliving their childhood through the kids and saying got, got, need for the next few weeks.