Subbuteo - Back in the Day, DID you Play Subbuteo ?

[Hornchurch]

 Subbuteo  -  Back in the Day, DID you Play Subbuteo ?

 

Wasn't too sure where to put this & let's face it - They ARE Plastic Figures !

Many folks DO make conversions & re-paints - It used to be rife, back in the day.

Airfix AND Humbrol Glues (& Paints) certainly "came to the rescue", fixing-up teams.

 

 I got my first set via Mum/Parents - It was circa 1973

 My Mother wasn't exactly 'shy' about splashing-out da cash !

 So, Hawny here had the "Floodlight Edition" as his 1st-set

 Just the 'plain-jane' Red & Blue teams (Man.U & Everton ?)

 They just bored the $hit out of me (both teams, colour-wise.

 Hawny wanted some SPICE !!!!!!

 

 Now around that time, I was heavily into AIRFIX

 So, AIRFIX 1/32 figures (Soldiers) & painting & colour schemes, etc.

 Toyshops near me, held mostly sparse stock options....  (Ergo -Gutted !)

 West Ham (Catalogue No.7) were in abundance, as they were my local team

 Opposite end of town however, there was a toyshop named "Bulls"

 Great selection (at long-last !), cycling distance away, too !!!!

 

 Prices were (sadly) high, but if you wanted variation, then "stump up"

 Owner was NOT happy "if" you lifted the lid, for a better look

 After about 3-4 visits, I kept getting "the glare" & asked "why" ?

 "We've had stuff stolen - Not saying it's YOU, but we're wary of anyone"

 I told him the truth, that I WAS "well bought up" & NOT into theivery (not my style)

 After buying a few sets (different colours), he got to trust me & happy for me to open...

 Run up to 1974 FA-Cup-Final, I wanted to get (& liked) BOTH teams....

 Liverpool vs Newcastle ; Steve Heighway WAS my favourite player (Big MAC, opposition)

 Gutted to find that ALL the New'cy teams had AWFUL dreadful "wonky stripes"

 Hawny's imagination didn't stretch across to "windy day, shirts rippling, accordingly"

 Nope - All I saw, was "wonky stripe" & duff painting (poor women !), so I bypassed Tyneside

 Liverpool team(s) ALL looked "spot-on" & even the White (rounded) collars, well-executed = SOLD !!!!

 By now, I had at least TWELVE teams in all & interesting selections too, ALL English Clubs, "1st Division"

 But the "Munich '74" set came out & of course, I just HAD to have it - Loved the "Goal-Nets" (superb !)

 They were proper 'hanging nets", so, not 'richochets or rebounds' off the lower-bar (too fast, visually to confirm)

 Instead, the ball WOULD go in & absorb the vast majority of powerful shots, causing less arguing !!!!

 I really, really wanted Holland (Netherlands) to win the 1974 'World Cup', but as we all know, the Germans nabbed it

 But, even before THAT Tournament had started, I felt a STRONG hankering for some Continental teams....

 Didn't have to be flash - Nor successful teams - Just colours that I really, really liked & fawned-over.

 Being 'Hardcore' on Subbuteo by 1974, I asked my Mother to do the 'Postal Order' thing - (Mail Order)

 

 This simply meant that I (aka 'Hawny'), could finally obtain teams, the like of which I'd NEVER even seen in the shops...

 Nor, being somtimes or often "obscuro" teams from Belgium & Holland/Germany/France, that you'd NEVER see "in stock"

 Thus :  "Harlem" (87), "Wuppertal" (121), "Anderlecht" (55, Mauve), "Ostend" (64), "Nantes" (142) were obtained.

 Hawny was "like a dog with TWO dicks" & could now stage "U.E.F.A" games amongst mates - (They loved it !!!)

 By pure luck, chronological-timing & fate, ALL of Hawny's teams WERE the "Classic Heavyweight" type, bar none !

 They (it seems) have HUGE re-sale value thesedays, tho' to be fair, I'd NEVER part with them... (too much nostalgia value)

 I'd usually make a 'beeline' for the British/English "Away Teams" - Again, colour dictated it all & of course, variation.

 Coventry City in Dark-Green//Black-Stripes & the same Red/Black Man City equivalent, too  -  (as examples)

 

 Bizarrely, I only EVER seem to remember having ONE proper green "Baize Pitch", which I kept in excellent condition

 God forbid//Woe betide anyone who'd bring coffee, or worse yet, a "full sugar" tin of Coke near it ("Away From Thee, Satan")

 Happy memories of (what was, pre-internet & P.C.), a most FABULOUS game & with hindsight, "most collectable" in tow...

 Anyone else on here 'resonate' with what I'm saying/have said, in regard to "Subbuteo" ?????    (Esp' in it's "Heyday", 1970's)

P.S  =  An utterly SUPERB page - HERE - (Peter Upton's), on the "Classic Heavyweights" SUBBUTEO website

         

           SUBBUTEO  "Classic Heavyweight"  Page  -  Player Figures

 

P.P.S  ; I forgot to say ; Most teams (of mine) were in that 'painted White plastic' (heavy-duty)....

           Whereas, I did notice that the later 'Classic Heavyweights' were molded in 'Flesh' tone & painted thereafter**

       ** As opposed to the original WHITE 'Classic Heavyweights' having 'flesh coloured' (Airfix M.7 ?) type paint.

 

[Black Knight]

I never owned any sets, I just played matches with others who owned them

I had a nice wee earner re-painting teams into other colours.

One chap I played matches with was really serious about his teams. Each team had their home, away and alternative kits plus I had to paint the numbers on. In this guy's case every team also had all the reserve players.

He had the English 4 Divisions, the Scots Divisions, the Ulster teams as well as the Irish teams. When the Euro cup was on he had every team in that, same for the World Cup  series. If the team wasn't available off the shop shelf I got one to paint.

I painted just about every team anyways as the chap wanted a better paint job than supplied, eg as the teams came the heads and faces weren't painted well, just slapped on, I had the job of redoing it better

Helped keep me in paints and money for models for several years

[Mark Harmsworth]

I used to play with my little brother.

 

We had a league, FA Cup and European Cup. All played on a dining table with a board under the green cloth. Numbers painted on the back of the shirts with the player names on pieces of paper inside each box.

 

Everything went well until he started beating me - my memory has been purged a little but I suspect I didn't behave too well. Such is the way with brothers.

 

Then several decades later a set was re-discovered in the loft and I started playing against my brother-in-law when we visited. That was different. Crawling around on the floor with the cloth on the carpet and a beer or two being consumed. We tried to convince ourselves that we were having fun but . . . . . And our knees hurt. So we stopped.  

[Mike]

Nope.  Wasn't a fan of football, so it made sense that I didn't have a footy game

[malpaso]

I had a basic set for Christmas one year.  It had the plastic figures but maybe that was a newish thing in the seventies as the instructions had card? Flat figures and how to mark out the pitch on a blanket (which looked like WW1 surplus judging by the murky photos).  I never really got the hang of playing, but provided lower league opposition for friends in the street when we weren’t playing Airfix, hot wheels, scalextric, trains or riding round on bikes!

[Rob G]

Nope. Never even seen any. 

[Vince1159]

Yes i wouldn't have missed it for anything,i still have all my teams/terraces etc and other figures up in the loft as well as my Rugby and Cricket sets...Happy days...

 

Do you remember Striker as well,i used the smaller pitch for 5 aside Subbuteo...

 

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by Vince1159

[stevej60]

Loved this game there were quite a few of us kids living within a few doors of each other so a healthy Subbuteo league was on the go

of course we all had Sunderland and Newcastle but ManUtd,Liverpool and Chelsea were all in evidence,I do remember buying Hamilton

Academicals for some reason and one of my friends West ham team recieved a re-paint when the great Clyde Best became one of the first

black players in the top league! Hated the diving goalie I preffered the standing keeper and the small ball was the only one allowed.

[Tijuana Taxi]

I've still got an old set in its box probably under a bed or in the loft.

It has Brazil, Argentina, Liverpool and Everton plus the line side photographers.

Nearest place to me that sold it was a department shop called Bearmans in Leytonstone High Road.

 

Plus of course Leyton Orient in their braces strip from the seventies, this figure looks to me like Peter Kitchen

Edited February 8, 2022 by Tijuana Taxi

[mike c]

Yes, loved it , played for ages with my brother. Basic set with a home made pitch Dad made out of a piece of thick white felt, pitch marked out with black felt pen. 

[davecov]

I used to have some Subbuteo in the Seventies when at school. Myself and some classmates used to meet up on Thursday nights to play it but we couldn't start our matches until we had seen Pan's People on Top of the Pops.

 

Dave

[Trevor L]

I had the early 80's England team with the red and blue across the chest, which looked good. Would have been more realistic if some of the players had perms though!

Many players got injured, usually snapped ankles as a result of crunching tackles (aka me accidentally stepping or kneeling on them).

Me and my mate played a full world cup tournament in '82, from group stages to final. Took us months to finish it. 

 

Quiz question: can anyone name the post-punk single that mentions Subbuteo?

[Richard Humm]

49 minutes ago, Trevor L said:

Quiz question: can anyone name the post-punk single that mentions Subbuteo?

All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit by Half Man Half Biscuit. Their new album, The Voltarol Years, is out next week.

[Trevor L]

1 hour ago, Richard Humm said:

All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit by Half Man Half Biscuit. Their new album, The Voltarol Years, is out next week.

Not the one I was thinking of, but it's in there so a point to you.

[Bonhoff]

2 hours ago, Trevor L said:

Quiz question: can anyone name the post-punk single that mentions Subbuteo?

 

"My Perfect Cousin" by The Undertones?

[Tijuana Taxi]

Dug my old set out after reading this thread, pitch still looks in decent nick and a few bits I had forgotten.

One figure looks like a manager, few policemen with one on horseback, couple of photographers and some players warming up.

Small Orange ball and two of the later style goals, the box says the set is called the Continental, no idea what it originally contained.

Can't see it ever being used again and might just stick it on eBay to see what it gets.

[Trevor L]

19 hours ago, Bonhoff said:

 

"My Perfect Cousin" by The Undertones?

Bingo! 🖕

[Mark Harmsworth]

The lyrics to that verse:

 

Even at the age of ten
Smart boy Kevin was a smart boy then
He always beat me at Subbuteo
'Cause he flicked the kick and I didn't know