The Offside Rule

The offside rule has never been easy to understand, but Subbuteo by means of their excellent Advanced Rules booklet explain it perfectly. The text on the left is taken from a late 1960's version of the booklet.

The Repair Job

This has to be the ultimate in player maintenance to get your man back on the pitch after a particularly bad tackle. Having been scythed at both ankles and decapitated the owner has lovingly glued him back onto the feet ( the technical term is among fellow collectors trying to flog a common team is 'neatly glued at the ankles' which doesn't sound half as bad as 'broken, but fixed' ) all with total precision. The head repair is a total gem, although the basic player is white plastic, a Norwich players head in flesh plastic has been donated and grafted on with Airfix glue to save our man. This obviously was a treasured team by someone and the player must have been Andy Gray or someone of great importance. The disappointed looking figure now sits in my collection, head bowed, in an almost a biblical pose.... which is a bit like the modern day Andy Gray on Sky Sports 2 trying to commentate on an Aston Villa away game.

Ref: 46 - Marsaxlokk F.C.

Not a repaint, but an original number 46 figure. The owner has put a weird varnish on it, undoubtedly to save it for future generations, which now renders it totally useless from a collectors point of view. I saw a 46 exactly like this on eBay a few weeks ago which is a strange coincidence or in my case, a bloody nuisance if you have been searching for a good, numbered box Marsaxlokk for years.

Chelsea E300 Express Team

Picked up a few of these almost mint teams last year including numbers 7, 10, 21 and 25. What makes them special to me is that on each inlay there is a neat log of how many games the team played and how many goals each player scored. This team had just 12 outings and therefore shows no signs of wear. I think the owner must have been a Leeds fan as that team had played over 60 games. I remember these teams in the shops in the 70's, but never bought one as I considered them poor value for money at 52½ pence when you could get a full eleven man team for 99p which could be used for express and full scale matches. In hindsight I wish I had bought those teams now and put them up the loft.... I am working on a time machine over the winter, but still having trouble finding a DeLorean and a fusion generator capable of generating 121 gigawatts....

The Old School Team 1975

One of the few items that escaped being a target for my airgun and made it into the loft after I grew out of Subbuteo. This is the school team on funky all orange bases from my primary school and is boxed in a wonderful flat original Subbuteo holder. How I came to be in possession of it or who painted it is questionable, but runs a close second to the number 49 as one of my favorite Subbuteo things. The goalkeeper is missing (who in real life was me, which is disturbing, maybe he's gone to prison for theft?) and sadly, no letter from Mr. Adolf exists confirming the special order for the unique paint job. In reality I would guess Mrs. Ridley, the art teacher painted them after spending hours scratching the black away from a standard number 49. I do remember the school Subbuteo team wasn't very good and it only went on for a couple of years before it folded.

Dwarf Heavyweights

These nearly always turn up in references 100 or 102 and although of Italian origin, were sold in the UK as standard heavyweights. When viewing a complete team, it is interesting to note that no two appear to be the same, which gives each one its own little personality, even to the point of looking like a real player (a friend of mine reckons the figure on the left is a ringer for Bobby Moore, while the one on the right reminds me of a girl I went out with once) some even have proper necks unlike the Manchester United player or the ex-girlfriend.

Reference 62, Australia

This is actually a repaint. Hard to spot by anyone other than a seasoned Subbuteo expert, but, given away by the fact that reference number 62 was never produced on blue molded bases or painted with white socks.

C132 Throw in Figures

When Subbuteo announced the introduction of throw in figures, much excitement and anticipation spread throughout our school. We could hardly wait for the stocks to arrive at the local sports shop. When the promised delivery day finally arrived, my mate and I pedaled off into town with our 37½ pence's burning holes in our shorts. On turning the corner, we were shocked to find queues of expectant kids, of proportions similar to a modern day sale at Next on Boxing day. In the rush to get into the shop, I forgot to lock my bike up and it got nicked, but it didn't matter as I had my throwers. My mate kindly gave me a backie home on his Chopper. At home, we immediately set up a game to try out the new throwers and found that due to an obvious design fault the figure would create so much backspin that the ball would take on a mind of its own, half the game was taken up with continuous foul throws. The throwers that had cost me 37½ pence and my bike were just impossible to use. I repainted them in camouflage colours as they looked like surrendering soldiers and they ended up as airgun fodder in the garden which was much more fun.

1960's Sekiden Gun and Ammo

While trawling eBay I came across this Sekiden Gun. I had to buy it as mine was lost nearly 30 years ago. Like the timer device above, it has its own distinctive sound when fired (a sort of a boing sound) and triggered many happy childhood memories that had been long forgotten. As a full magazine held fifty or so of the little plaster pellets, I was guaranteed of shooting a good proportion of my friends and family before having to reload. Soon everyone was equipping themselves with their own personal sidearm for protection and before long I was finding myself on an regular basis down at casualty having pellets fished out of my ears.... I got one in the eye once and it nearly sent me blind. I have recently picked up a mint one of these, still in its original unopened bag.