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Firstly, a Happy New Year to all our members old and new. I wonder how many of those who joined back in 2002 expected to be reading this latest newsletter dated January 2006? Yes, I know this issue was originally planned for December but by the time I’d compiled it we were already into the dreaded “Christmas post” period and, mindful of the fact we had about a dozen or so copies go astray in Dec. ‘04 I thought it best to hang fire until the New Year. By this time I had to completely rewrite the first page to take new developments into account, but here it finally is and I must say how pleased I’ve been with the response to my recent appeal for articles. You can judge the quality of them for yourselves, but in my opinion this is one of our most varied and interesting issues ever and a splendid effort by all those involved.

There are some changes to the SC this year. I will not be asking for any annual subs and so when a newsletter is due members can just contact me and I’ll send it to them on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis. They cost £2.50 each from now on including first class/airmail P&P and for some this may be a better option than committing to 4 issues in advance. I note with interest that Subbuteo World no longer produce a magazine, which looks like having been little more than a passing whim. It’s a good thing that we at the SC didn’t follow his “professional” formula of putting glossy ad-filled pages before serious content or where would we be now? Miles up the proverbial creek! This would have seen a return to the barren days of 2001/2002 but thankfully there is still a magazine for the Subbuteo community to read and enjoy, and one which will be around well into the future!

On the events front, I’m organising two more of these and thereafter there will be no more official SC ones. Having re-launched the collectors’ fairs back in 2002 it was never my intention to do 15 of them but now they are firmly re-established I’m sure that volunteers will step forward to keep the momentum going - I certainly hope so! If anyone would like to put on a show from the autumn onwards (we’re fully booked until the summer, see P.2) that would be great and they can of course advertise it here in the SC Newsletter. The new online forum at www.subbuteoforum.co.uk is also an excellent advertising medium.

I’ve saved a picture of the old forum for posterity, which many readers will instantly recognise on the back page. Why change? Well I spent 2 full days sending Emails to our former hosts in the USA saying things like “Can you send me a PayPal invoice for $14.95 to trev@europe.com?” and getting replies like, “Yes, where to”? “Trev@europe.com” “Okay, how will you be paying?” “By PayPal” “Fine, please give credit card details” “I’m not using a CC, I’m using PayPal” “Then we need your PayPal address” “I’ve told you it’s Trev@europe.com!” After about 14 messages they finally sent me an invoice, which I paid in full and then….they pulled the plugs!!! Two days later I received another invoice asking me for $14.95, the reply to which I won’t print here.

I just thought I’d share that tale so that readers can reflect on how we ever coped before the wonders of technology, globalisation and other modern-day marvels. I must say that when my blood pressure subsided I went into philosophical mode and gained an insight into why I collect Subbuteo and other “retro” items. It’s perhaps 40% to do with the beauty of the objects themselves but I’m sure the rest is related to memories they evoke of a stress-free, less complicated existence we enjoyed back then….or am I just being over-nostalgic? Maybe, but I’ll look at my HW teams in a different light from now on and would like to thank the incompetent employees of a major US forum hosting corporation for my new-found enlightenment :-)) Peace and love!TREV.

CONTENTS

Page 1 .… You’ve just read it (I hope!?) Page 2 …. Club News Page 3 …. The merits of Lightweight teams Page 4….The Flick To Kick Cup Final - coming soon on DVD! Page 5….Hasbro 2k5 ‘Photoreal’ teams - an updatePages 6/7 …. The 1978 and 1979 Subbuteo World Brochures Page 8…. Gianmatteo’s luckiest Subbuteo findPage 9 ….The five Subbuteo eras, 1947 to the present day Pages 10/11…. Vik’s Subbuteo story from South AfricaPage 12 …. The Subbuteo Forum 2005, one final look?

ISSUE #13 - JANUARY 2006

Missed issues 1 to 12? Read them all on one CD for just £7.50!

—— CLUB NEWS —–

Apologies to all those I omitted from our ‘roll of honour’ last issue, 4 of whom contacted me to ask ‘hey, where’s my name?’ I then rediscovered a further 21 missing members, which would have made the total 405. I’ve no excuse (other than a computer crasherasing some info) but by adding these to the 11 SC newcomers joining since September we’ve now moved onto 416….I think!? I’m afraid there’s nowhere to mention our forgotten friends here as I somehow have to squeeze 3 events into the space below, but don’t worry folks—you haven’t been airbrushed out of SC history and your day will come :-) Now then, about those events….

WAKEFIELD SUBBUTEO FAIR Saturday, February the 25th at The Alverthorpe WMC, 111, Flanshaw Lane, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF2 9ET

Start: 9 a.m. traders (to set up), 9.30 a.m. buyers Finish: 1.30 p.m. Licensed bar from noon Admission: For the first time, this event will be FREE to all-comers!

Directions: Leave the M1 at J40. Head towards Wakefield and proceed through traffic lights passing the Shell garage on the left. Carry on to the next set of main traffic lights and turn left into Flanshaw Lane. Follow the road past the Flanshaw Hotel and Eagle pubs on the right and the club is approx. 300 yards further on the same side. Ample parking is available at the rear of the club after the row of terraced houses. There is a train station approx. 1.5 miles (25 mins. walk) from the venue.

*** Want to play Subbuteo? Just turn up on the day with your SUBBUTEO team and the tables will be provided! *** —————————————– The Subbuteo Club would like to thank Peter Wroe the organiser and all the staff at the Alverthorpe WMC for allowing us to use the premises and providing us with such a warm and friendly welcome every year. We look forward as ever to our annual meeting at this excellent venue!

SUBBUTEO ADVANCED RULES PLAYING TOURNAMENT (plus collectors’ fair - to be confirmed) **APRIL 9TH 2006**

At the Sidney Walter Centre, Sussex Road, Worthing, BN11 1DS

To enter and for more info please contact

chris@thatsmagnificent.co.uk (0774 5241808)

There will be a follow-up Subbuteo playing/collecting event in Leicester on 20/07/06 A review of the Worthing Tournament plus full details of this one will appear in issue 14

SC contact details: Here are some ways of getting in touch with me if you have a query re. the club, a newsletter article to submit or maybe just to say hello? Unfortunately, I am unavailable by telephone due to the high volume of calls and their time-consuming nature (which used to drive my wife mad!)

Email trev@europe.com Website www.subbuteoclub.tk Forum www.subbuteoforum.co.uk Postal Address Trevor Smith, 15 Brightwell Drive, L.F.E., Leicester LE3 3QA.

Bet that put a smile on your face... I figured that the stadium needed a team to have regard it as their home, hence the comic book style line-up above.My grandfather was responsible for getting the ball rolling, for kicking off my interest in Subbuteo (major pun alert!). In 1981 he bought me the World Cup '82 Edition Subbuteo Set while on a trip to the British Isles.Prior to Subbuteo I was relegated to playing a brand of table football involving bottle caps. It was 1977, I was six years old, and I'd just discovered "the beautiful game". Everyday my mother would give me twenty cents just before I trudged off to school. With twenty cents I bought a bottle of Coke or Fanta, a packet of chips, a packet of spiced figs, and six sugar-coated apricot-flavoured sweets. Yes, those were the days...My friends were all quite willing to give up their bottle caps, of course, not knowing what plans I had in mind for them. Within a week I had all twenty-two "players" plus a good supply of reserves for both teams. My grandfather bought me a rectangular piece of 6.4mm. thick masonite board (measuring about 600mm. in length and the width was about 400mm.), and painted the smooth side green. I marked the lines of the football pitch with a black marking pen, because I could not get my white crayon to work on the green gloss paint. I constructed the goals using the easily shaped thin steel strip from the top of old single page chart calendars, and got the netting from my mom, who used to sew wedding dresses for nearly all the brides-to-be in Verulam. Gosh, that brings back a plethora of fantastic memories! I can still remember semi-clothed women in my mom's studio... Mmmmmmmm, all those mammaries... Oops, I mean memories!

Eh, let's move on, shall we...The ball was an extremely unpredictable white bead. It appeared to have similar characteristics as a rugby ball despite being as round as round can be. Thinking back I am sure now that the board and the thick, uneven layer of green paint played their respective roles in making the ball perform like a boomerang at times.I played the game along the same lines as Subbuteo, by flicking the nearest bottle cap to the "ball", in the hope that it would propel the little plastic sphere into the opposition goal. My first World Cup saw one hundred and twenty-eight teams competing. And this will really amuse you... In a thirty minute long World Cup Final (the other games in the tournament all had a duration of three minutes) Greenland beat South West Africa (now known as Namibia) 22-5. The population of Greenland - all seventeen of them - must've been doing cartwheels on the ice back home...Later - probably about a year or two post the bottle cap era - I got myself toy World War II British and German plastic soldiers, and used these figures. I painted the British soldiers red and the Jerries got dunked into yellow paint. Then I discovered that it was no use flicking the figures at the ball, as they'd topple over and stay down, and quite often take out the entire midfield. It was like dominoes!So I got hold of some polystyrene and fashioned a ball as tiny as the bead that preceded it. I then started playing table football in an altogether different way. Specific positions were marked out on the field for each player: as a striker, a midfielder or as a defender, and this is where the player would remain throughout the match. They were fixed positions. Again, the nearest player to the ball would have control. One could pass, chip or shoot the ball by carrying the figure and using the base to "kick" the ball. The rule was simple: each team gets a minimum of three passes before a shot on goal can be attempted. If the ball lands closest to an opposition player, then possession is relinquished. Unlike Subbuteo, shots on goal can be taken from anywhere on the playing pitch.The one aspect of this manner of playing the game is the amazing performance of the polystyrene ball. There's plenty of curl, swerve and unpredictability in one's play. You could equate it with golf (on a smaller scale of course) with all the putting and chipping, etc. Later on when I finally discovered Subbuteo, I also found that the chances of a polystyrene ball causing any kind of injury to the playing figures was extremely remote.At any rate, and as already stated above, I have tried playing Subbuteo the way it is supposed to be played, according to theauthentic Subbuteo rules, but I never derived so much as a crumb of enjoyment out of playing it the way the rest of the world does. Perhaps it has something to do with not growing up with Subbuteo already entrenched into one's culture or society, and having been so comfortable for so long "doing it my way"...My grandfather had the World Cup 1982 Set all nicely gift-wrapped for me when he came home from his trip to the U.K. I have never ripped open gift wrapping paper all my life (a lesson taught to me by my dad), and opening this package was no different. I took my time, but I wonder if I would've had I known what the gift was.There is a photograph I once saw of a little Hungarian boy, sitting on a step outside a building, hugging a pair of shoes. It is of one that was taken soon after the Second World War. Apparently a soldier of the Allied forces had given the little boy the pair of new shoes.The boy's face is a picture, an _expression of absolute, complete, total, unbridled joy and happiness. You look down at the worn and disfigured pair he has on, and you understand his joy. You merely understand it, but you don't feel it. The day I received my first Subbuteo set I was the happiest boy in the world. I know exactly what that little Hungarian boy felt all those years ago...

Vikash Ramnath

Greetings from South Africa...Gosh, now where do I begin where Subbuteo is concerned?...I am thirty-four years old, and have been a Subbuteo fan ever since I was ten. So, I suppose that's twenty-four years of being enchanted by the magic of my favourite waste of time. I am more of a collector than a player. In fact, I have never played the game according to the authentic Subbuteo rules, the way in which it is supposedly meant to be played. Each to their own, I suppose. My brother and I used to play the game every weekend, but now that he's married it is rather impossible for me to expect him to visit me every weekend for a game of Subbuteo... We never use the authentic plastic balls though, preferring hand-carved polystyrene efforts instead. It's always much more fun with polystyrene balls as they are considerably more unpredictable with lots of swerving through the air and the odd bounces, etc. Needless to say, along with substituting the Subbuteo plastic balls, we also discarded the rules. We made up our own rules with each game, and refined them to their present standing. Don't anyone dare ask about my abilities as a player! I am pathetic at the game, if played according to the rules as those set out by Subbuteo. My current project involves the construction of a football stadium, and the painting of some 7850 Subbuteo spectators to fill the stadium. Yup, that is definitely going to take me a good few years to complete. I have only completed painting 3595 of the wee plastic people, so there's quite a long way to go yet.The design of my Subbuteo stadium will incorporate architectural moments from several football stadiums. I have collected pictures of just about every 25000+ seater football and rugby stadiums from around the world, and have spent the past two years sifting through them to find the style or design I desire for my stadium. In the end I chose to note a select few for inspiration. They fit in nicely with my initial plans for the project, and shouldn't give me too much problem with achieving. Some of the materials I need might have to be imported though. That is somewhat of a problem. The matt acrylic perspex I require for much of this project is seemingly unavailable here in South Africa. I can get the matt white and clear colours locally, but I also plan on employing grey, orange (or bright red) and purple to get the finer details of the stadium completed. I may have to use wood to get the basic structure produced, but plastic - both clear and coloured - will have to be introduced thereafter to bring detail to the stadium. These items are desired over and above the Subbuteo Grandstands and terraces I already have. Although the Subbuteo stadiums are stunningly spectacular as they are, I am planning to embellish them further in order to create my ideal football arena, my idea of the perfect football stadium.My aim is to have the stadium ready by 2010, when the Football World Cup will be staged here at the foot of Africa. I will contact the media to have them take pictures of the stadium, and will hopefully have them published in local newspapers and magazines, etc. This, I think, will be a good way of bringing some sort of awareness of Subbuteo to my fellow South Africans. There is nothing more spectacular in the world of table football than a Subbuteo stadium jam-packed with spectators, along with all the other stadium accessories... The idea is to get people believing that they, too, can have a Subbuteo stadium of their own, or at the very least attract people to playing the game, and/or to collecting the various items associated with the game/hobby. I've been trying for decades to brainwash people here in South Africa, but have been miserably unsuccessful. Come 2010, I am going to make a special effort, because this game/hobby is far too exquisite to die. South Africa is a football-mad country. We may not be successful on the world stage (yet!), but it is a sporting code played by most people here in the basement of Africa. I believe the 2010 World Cup will be the perfect time to promote Subbuteo. Everything and anything will be focused on the football tournament, or related to it in some way, so I will seize the opportunity to lure people to the greatest game/hobby of all time. What better way to mesmerize a football-crazy nation into the world of Subbuteo than to visually stimulate them with a Subbuteo stadium... The stadium will be called the Visashke Arena. Visashke is simply the first two letters of the names of my siblings and myself: Vi(kash); Sa(ndhyia); Sh(evani); Ke(eran). The team kit of Visashke F.C. will be purple and saffron halved shirts, white shorts, saffron socks with purple folds. Each little plastic fellow will be numbered and named as follows:

1. Zev "The Cat" Alexander. 2. Ivan "El Diablo" Sanchez.3. Felix "Psycho" Von Ziggenweijht.4. Milan "Ice-Man" Le'Strange.5. Lorenzo Masters. (No-one dares to give Mr. Masters a nickname. He's the captain and everybody - fans and players alike - call him "Sir"... But there are those brave souls who refer to him as "The Governor"). 6. Marco "Tango" Mancini.7. Tomasz "Blitzkrieg" Parag.8. Hamish "The Shadow" Anderson.9. Fernando "The Fox" Rivers. 10. Halian "Hacker" Jones.11. Jon "Mad Dog" O'Flanagan.Coach/Manager: Mr. Archiebald "Big Daddy" Langley.

Subbuteo: A South African Story

Here are some points to consider….

1) You can see the players in the team box

This is especially true of the wider early-80s boxes but even the later ones had a window to show most of the players so that you knew instantly which team it was. Those little moulds to keep the players in were also far better than the slits in the HW cardboard boxes which the players fell out of when the box was upturned. So you can carry your LWs around all over the place and still be sure the players will be in their proper holes afterwards.

2) Easier to replace players

For restoration purposes it’s a lot easier to pull out a peg from its hole (although it can be tricky in some instances!) than to remove a glued bar from a slot. Let’s say you break a player from a team—you just find another one and do a swapover! With HWs it’s not always that simple because you have to consider such things as flesh tone, the style of stripes/hoops (if applicable), the hair and boot colours and just the general appearance of the new player which often looks out of place with the 9 others. Swapping bases is also an easier process because the discs lift out of the outers a lot easier and with less breakage. This may be necessary to do if a new player has different lettering on the base to the others, but again there are fewer variations in lettering for this to be a major problem.

3) More detailed

Although the earlier ones were still handpainted, there’s no doubt that technology ultimately meant more detail. Some may think they lost their ‘personal’ touch when they became machine painted/mass produced and that’s fair enough, but they gained with such things as perfect strips with no ‘iffy-looking’ players who were badly painted. The machines could get on much finer detail—those little bits that were neglected on HWs and Zs before and this culminated in such things as sponsor’s logos. This meant that the team was a specific one and there were no such things as “generic” strips where one reference could represent half a dozen or more teams.

4) Cheaper

This was not a bonus at the time but now Subbuteo isn’t for sale in the shops it’s a big one! You can now pick up LWs for less than you’d have paid when they were on general sale, whereas other types of teams (with the possible exception of Zs) have become prohibitively dear!!! There are exceptions to this of course but in general few would argue that LWs are a cheaper option for collectors these days and (this is only my opinion) represent far better value for money. Bearing in mind that the average LW price is about £4.00 with average HWs costing about £15.00, you have to ask whether HWs were really 4x superior? If not then LWs are better value regardless of whether they’re actually better quality.

5) More choice

You can get just about any team in LW and if yours isn’t amongst the 800-plus available it must be a pretty obscure one! What I enjoy is collecting all the variations of certain teams until I’ve got them all, and the better-known ones like Man. Utd. must have about 20-odd strips. This could constitute a small collection in its own right for Man. Utd. enthusiasts, and for playing purposes you need never worry about having to change teams due to a colour clash! Admittedly there are more frequent strip changes these days which has made this possible whereas it was a relatively rare event back in the HW days of the 60s and 70s.

———–————————————————————–

These are just 5 reasons why I believe LWs are better than other figure types but I’m sure there are many more. I admit I’m biased because I began playing/collecting in the mid 80s, which has no doubt influenced me, and I’ve also just mentioned the + points. But LWs are underestimated by most collectors and some just ignore them altogether, which doesn’t do justice to a figure which survived for so long and yet still gets so much bad press. In presenting my case for the defence I hope I’ve slightly redressed the balance!

Why I prefer Lightweights (by Alex Isley)

INTRODUCTION

We at ALBNEL PRODUCTIONS would first like to thank Uncle Trev (THE MASTER) and the team at the Subbuteo club for the invitation to write this article for this issue of a great magazine. As you may be aware from the conversations and hype on the club forum we produce animated films. The subject for the majority of our films are based on a character that battles his way through time and space which we released on DVD in 2004, We have had great feedback from this. The idea of making the FTK movie came over a year ago during the filming of our last film. We knew there would be some uncertainty on how it would turn out as we usually film in 1:35 scale and being a Subbuteo match it would be filmed in 00 scale, also some of it would be in real time which we have never done before.

PRODUCTION

Filming began in March 2005 using a VHS C camcorder however in May we upgraded to a 3CCD DV camera giving a far superior picture. From the outset we decided to make the film as authentic as possible. The film would be viewed as if you were sat in front of your TV on a Wednesday night including news and adverts. As the movie includes more subject matter it meant that about 12 sets were built. For visual and entertainment value the actual movement and some of the game rules were changed (not to much though). Due to our sense of humour, the violence and language we have set the film as a cert18.......But its up to you to decide.

THE GAME

The teams are Blackern Munich FC verses DFDS FC, Both teams are fictional however the players are based on real people with their names slightly changed. The game is held at Pyewipe Stadium, Grimsby with a capacity of 48,962 fictional fans. Most of the fans are seated in the Dyson stand which was a chopped down hooverbox. As this was a night game we required floodlights in all 4 corners and on top of the Dyson stand, These are 50 w 12 volt running of 2 transformers. The heat which the stand lights gave off was so intense that it began to melt the top of the stand itself. The health and safety people almost cancelled the match!

As you may be aware animation is a long process which requires time and patients. Our films are not perfect but this adds a rawness and humour to the production which we believe no one has seen before ...............Have fun and happy viewing.

The brass band performs its pre-match routine…. ….and now here come the two teams!

THE FLICK-TO-KICK CUP FINAL MOVIE

By Neil Offiler, on behalf of ‘Albnel’ productions

Subbuteo - its rise and demise

Paul Streather examines the game’s highs and lows over the past 60 years with an emphasis on the Table Soccer playing figures.

1940s/50s - The birth of subbuteo! All those lovely cardboard and (later) celluloid players, spinning merrily on their shirt buttons for bases and army blankets for pitches with lines marked in chalk which you did yourself....the stuff of folklore! True, this didn’t last long and official pitches and bases were soon being produced, but this was the ‘2D’ era of the flat player. Throughout the ‘50s other sports came along such as speedway, cricket and rugby to build on the success of soccer and again based on the use of flat figures. A few soccer accessories were available, but we’re still a way off the famous green boxes and most of them came in plain brown ones instead. I think this era is purely for the nostalgic, but how many are still around who actually played with the stuff back then? Numbers must be dwindling.

1960s - The 3D era begins! What we now call Original Heavyweights were created and in nice stylish boxes too….Subbuteo is on the move, and it gets even better with the arrival of “Classic Heavyweights” sometime around 1967. Cricket and Rugby also went ‘00 scale’ with the latter being transformed from a game of rolling discs into one with recognisable players. PA Adolph sold the Subbuteo name to Waddingtons towards the end of the ‘60s and this led to an explosion in accessories sold in those now-legendary green boxes, but for me it’s the teams which define this decade. Although still only available up to ref. #55 there were cardboard & celluloid flats, OHWs and CHWs all still on sale in the shops as the sixties drew to a close.

1970s - This saw a vast extension in all areas as the HW soccer team range rocketed to 322 and accessories continued their progress all the way up to C166! Most collectors I know have a particular affinity for this period and it’s a pity the Zombies arrived right at the end to spoil it ….was this the first serious Subbuteo faux pas? Still, the overall impression is that there was something magical about the ‘70s with its burgeoning ’Continental’ range of sets, teams and accessories. It wasn’t just the actual products that enchanted collectors either, but the colour catalogues in which they were presented so well. Who could forget the immortal 1-190 HW wall charts which featured in the brochures from this era and still inspire collectors to this day?

1980s - This decade is marked by the arrival of LW teams which eventually went up to over 800 in number. A spectacular growth, but it was clear that the golden age was over and that as far as innovation is concerned this was a thing of the past. From the early 80s (when we were offered Subbuteo Hockey) there were no new sports being produced and very little which singles out this period for special attention. But the biggest blow to players was the transition from HWs to inferior LW teams which constantly fell over, as well as having to play on crease-riddled nylon pitches instead of smooth felt ones! Did Subbuteo as a game ever fully recover from this double whammy??

1990s onwards - The 90s were a turbulent decade, historically most notable for Hasbro PLC’s takeover of Subbuteo. I think most of us have tried to like Hasbro but it somehow just hasn’t happened. They initially put out a (vastly reduced) range of teams on one-piece bases, which was a novel idea and they also had the bonus of containing a substitute player. Credit where it’s due for thinking of this but there was no serious follow-up and it wasn’t long before we were being offered things like Xmas crackers and finger puppets. One suspects that the game today is aimed at 6 year-olds and with only 9 European squads available (on cards with press-out players) the chances are you’ll never be lining up your favourite team again … how sad!

———————————————— ***** ———————————————–

I would like to share with other Subbuteo fans my greatest finding, which happened just a few days ago. First of all, let me explain than I love to repaint Subbuteo players in my favourite teams colours, either from the far past or kits of recent teams never produced in H/W style (my last repaints was Angola and Ivory Coast, recently qualified for Germany 2006 World Cup). Obviously enough, I do not repaint mint H/W teams, just spares or severely damaged teams that I repair before painting, or teams which were already repainted from someone else, often in very ugly way.

A couple of months ago, I bought on eBay a repainted Leeds 2nd for a couple of quid, so I thought it was an affair, since all players were in good condition, with no broken or reglued players. However, when I finally got the parcel after about a week, I found that repaint was truly awful. The paint was literally blobbed over the players, and the trims were at best unpleasant. So I put the team apart (at the time, I was busy checking my H/W collection and storing it in a safe place) and forgot it for some time. On a Saturday morning of last week, I devoted as usual a couple of hours to Subbuteo hobby, and took back the repainted Leeds from the corner in which I thrown it previously. I was stroke by the base colours (orange outers and black inners) that I found very attractive, so I decided to remove the paint and use the team to repaint an Ivory Coast national team, since its shirt is orange and it will be nice to have the team on bases of the same colour.

So I used my usual “un-paint procedure”, that consist in submerging the players in a bowl full of detergent (I use that from Chanteclair, but I don’t know if you can find it in UK and I advice you to don’t try with anything else, since it may ruin or corrode plastic…) and left them there for about 36 hours. Sunday evening, after the detergent had proper time to operate, I checked the final result. Usually the paint simply fall off the players after passing them under a hot water blast, and I normally use and old toothbrush to remove the last remains of colour which do not detaches. So I prepared myself to began and take out of the bowl the first player. Due to base colours, I expected to find a Ref. 13 or Ref. 77 to be used as base for the repaint, but I thought it won’t be a problem since the un-paint procedure removes many layers of paint and I always obtain a “virgin” plastic player, like it was when produced by Subbuteo and ready to be painted again.

This time, it seems that the guy who repainted the Leeds used a more resilient varnish or paint, because when I passed the player under the hot water, the layer of repaint colour come off, leaving untouched the original Subbuteo paint. I was quite surprised and washed the player using only water, without recurring to the toothbrush that can easily strip also the original Subbuteo paint. When I finally completed the cleanse, I found that the kit was quite unusual. I mentally checked for it and thought it wasn’t a Ref. 77 nor a Ref. 13, but a Ref. 46 (Marsaxlokk). I considered it was pretty rare and so, with a large smile on my face, I proceeded to wash out the repaint from all other players. I carefully restored the entire team to its original beauty and than rushed to my catalogue to check out the exact Ref. number. I was disappointed when discovered that it wasn’t Ref. 46, since my team had orange shirt with a white hoop, black shorts and orange socks with black trim. I hastily leaf through the catalogue pages and found the kit I just discovered was a Ref. 188 Paris F.C.!

Stunned by surprise, I hardly managed to convince myself to leave the team dry from the recent bath, during the night. I forced myself to watch some TV, and then slept until next morning. At 7 o’clock, I wake up as usual but as first thing I rushed to the bathroom where the players were left to dry. I carefully examined them one by one, just to be sure that nothing was wrong. Well, paint was still there and I finally had an unsuspected genuine Ref. 188 in my hands. No broken players, no reglued, no weights rattling inside the bases. I felt myself like a children on Christmas’ morning, opening his presents. Reluctantly I prepared for going to work, and when I finally come back that evening I had the proper time to check my new Paris F.C.

The team was in good overall condition, with no breakages as I said before, and only with some playwear. An unexpected addition to my little H/W collection, especially if you think how few I’ve paid for it. I’ve taken a brand new replica box and carefully stored the team inside, officially adding it to the others I have in my possession. I’ve also shared my new finding with other Italian fans, posting the news on a forum, and get several replies that confirmed me the rarity of the team. At this time, I still cannot understand why the original owner decided to repaint the team. Maybe he doesn’t liked the kit (which is, in my opinion, almost beautiful) or maybe he was disappointed by the playwear and decided to make an overall restoration, or simply he was a great Leeds fan and he was missing the 2nd

kit for his beloved team and doesn’t have money to buy it. Whatever it is, I had to thanks my unknown benefactor both for deciding to repaint the team with such resilient paint and in a hideous way, so unattractive that I’ve decided to un-paint it and found the little treasure under the glossy varnish.

Well, that’s my “greatest ever Subbuteo find” true story. No doubt many other of you will have their own tales and I would love to hear them in the pages of this magazine. Now I’ll go back to my Subbuteo hobby, and wish every one of you can have his own personal and amazing finding, just like that it’s just happened to me.

Hidden masterpieces, or the Paris F.C. discovery

By Gianmatteo Tonci (tosattearp@yahoo.it)

A.C. Milan Inzaghi / Maldini / Rui Costa Kaka / Stam / Gattuso Pirlo / Costacurta / Cafu Shevchenko / Nesta / Seedorf Crespo / Ambrosini / Dida

Arsenal Edu / Clichy / Bergkamp Cole / Viera / Lungberg Reyes / Toure / Pires Lauren / Campbell / Van Persie Henry / Lehmann / Gilberto

Barcelona Deco / Marquez / Motta Eto'o / Gio / Gabri Giuly / Belletti / Xavi Iniesta / Oleguer / Puyol Larsson / Valdes / Ronaldinho

Chelsea Carvalho / Gallas / Parker Drogba / Bridge / Duff Kezman / Cole / Terry Lampard / Gudjohnsen / Cech Robben / Ferreira / Makelele

Inter Milan Adriano / Materazzi / Veron Martins / Ze Maria / Cordoba Recoba / J Zanetti / Favalli Stankovic / Cruz / C Zanetti Toldo / Vieri / Davids

Juventus Ibrahimovic / Cannavaro / Emerson Tacchinardi / Thuram / Olivera Trezeguet / Birindelli / Buffon Zalayeta / Zebina / Nedved Del Piero / Zambrotta / Ferrara

Liverpool Biscan / Warnock / Carragher Cisse / Josemi / Hamann Gerrard / Riisa / Garcia Hyypia / Finnan / Kewell Alonso / Baros / Dudek

Manchester Saha / Brown / Scholes United Rooney / Giggs / Ferdinand Ronaldo / G Neville / Heinze Smith / Silvestre / Keane Van Nistelrooy / O'Shea / Howard

Valencia Aimar / Carboni / Rufete Di Vaio / Ayala / Fiore Mista / Marchena / Albelda Sissoko / Caneira / Baraija Corradi / Canizares / Vicente

Trevor Smith

Hasbros or “Has-Beens”?

When Hasbro bought out the “Photoreal” range my first thought was that they’d be outdated by the end of the year. I even predicted that you wouldn’t be able to put a full team of current players onto the pitch in some cases, so let’s see how my predictions fared by comparing the squads back in February with those at the end of November. Players who have since left the club are underlined….

Okay here, with just Crespo returning to Chelsea after his loan spell. Mind you, those aging defenders won’t be around forever so I don’t see this squad being available for too long after this season.

Just made it and from now on there are no selection headaches because only 11 of the original 15 players remain. Isn’t Henry making noises about leaving though? Better enjoy playing with them while you can!

No problems with this squad, still almost as fresh as the day the first card came out of the box!

A couple of departures but you should get another season out of the 13 remaining.

See previous comment.

See previous comment.

Ah, we have a problem! Of the 3 departures, one is Dudek and so LFC is now obsolete with no reserve keeper to call on. That’s the big drawback with these Photoreal teams....lose your goalkeeper and you’ve had it!

Still pretty much intact as a squad so plenty more flicking to come with these, unless of course they offload their keeper Howard (as they’ve been threatening to do for the last couple of seasons!)

Down to the bare bones here with only 11 players to choose from. But should Valencia have been in this ‘Super Team’ series anyway, instead of the more illustrious Real Madrid?

1978 Edition:

Title Subbuteo World

Cover Goalmouth scene of England/Italy on HW figures

No. of pages 24 (including covers)

References #1 up to #321 (England Red & White)

————————————————————————————

This brochure has black & white pics along with the Subbuteo story on page 2 (only b/w in all issues!) including Kevin Keegan, Emlyn Hughes & Andrea Piccaluga (the boy genius). Keegan’s shirt colour gives the era away in itself. Page 4 contains five soccer sets (Display, Club, Floodlighting, Stadium & WC Editions).

Onto the colour charts and there’s a few altered, especially ref. 137 Bordeaux adopting white shirts blue shorts from the reverse. 138 Lyon is similar to ref. 308 but with red shorts and ref. 148 monaco is aso noticeable by adopting red shorts and socks. This will change again by 1980 and 81. The numbers are all in a green horizontal band which makes them difficult to read, but thankfully this only occurred in this year. The team charts have a great many blanks for the 1—321 range, in particular in the 60 and 70 refs. Many are just one team and quite a few references aren’t too different to other early ones (ie 247 to 156, 249 to 77 & 274 to 45). One can tell why a lot disappeared in 1982 and onwards as they were folly by then.

To the accessories now and it’s goodbye to HWs in illustrated form (a #13 and a #130) plus the last we see of the C115 scoreboard with hanging lights. IMHO these were not good moves by Subbuteo which a lot of fans turned their backs on as a result. The alphabetical list has an unusual listing system where the number precedes the team name (again, this only occurs in this edition). And finally the rugby and cricket got a page each. The rugby teams are listed 1—37 with a description of each reference as number/shirts/shorts/teams. Accessories are listed too. Cricket has accessories and 4 types of the players in different caps.

The back page contains all the sets that were available in the full range. And so to 1979….

SUBBUTEO WORLD BROCHURES PART ONE - 1978 and 1979

This is a piece I’ve considered writing for some time now. Just a two-part review of four lovely publications (in my opinion I admit, but mainly as this was the only time you’d find Zombie figures illustrated in catalogues I guess). So I’ve written the following brief summaries for anyone interested in finding these brochures. Both were originally marked with a cover price of 10p.

1779 Edition:

TitleSubbuteo World (but some don’t have the number 79 on)

CoverThree LW Figures, two in ref. 198 and one in ref. 81 on a green background

Pages ReferencesAgain, 24 including covers #1 up to ref. #322 Iran

—————————————————————————————

In 1979 it becomes an all-colour edition. The ’story’ page has a classic pic of Mr. Piccaluga with his trophy with the FA Cup and Wembley Towers behind him. The soccer sets now have a Top Scorer set and a Stadium set has a new lid.

To the colour charts where the noticeable changes are the ref. 53 which has white shorts, #137 reverts back to blue shirts from white and 139 now has two blue vertical stripes with white borders on the right hand side. One point of note is the similarity between claret, maroon and red on all of these charts. It’s worth having earlier catalogues to see which should be red or maroon, and ambers and oranges are also liable to be confused. So it’s worth having other, older literature as back-up if you want accuracy for repainting your own teams. On the other hand, both this brochure and the 1980 edition will give you such a wide unbroken chain of team colours that subsequent literature will be frustrating in comparison! More gaps in the soccer team charts for all the one-year wonders who changed kits again (Plymouth, York, Middlesborough, Charlton, Shrewsbury, Torquay, Bradford, Paris FC and Metz).

This will be the last we see of the Zombies in photographs too (a handpainted ref. #13). Thankfully, the teams get a sensible order where it’s names and then reference numbers that follow. Far easier to read at a glance, and there are 548 entries! Not too good if you have poor eyesight though as the entries are in very small type.

This booklet contains the Soccer Plotter (a fancy league ladder). Handy as at the time there was no relegation from the league as there is today. Both books inform you of how to join the Subbuteo Club for the grand sum of 75p! The accessories gain the C165 Home International 4-team set, Police and TV Crew sets, new Mains Adaptor or the floodlights, 3 EPNS Cups, the C157 World Cup (FIFA hadn’t allowed the licence to the official one) and the Black Scoreboard which became a mainstay. Both the rugby and cricket pages remain the same (except a cricket scoreboard is now illustrated). The back page now has Top Scorer yet the old cover of the Table Rugby Box (?) …. very odd!

Next time we’ll be going through 1980 and 1981, where the Zombies go and LWs take over. Big changes in the reference charts with a slimming down of the range.

Andrew Phillips (aka “Phipps”)