FINGER FLICKING GOOD

SIMON SHELDON REFLECTS ON THE DAYS WHEN SUBBUTEO RULED THE ROOST…

The magic of Subbuteo

I’M not sure many of you would have received Subbuteo for a Christmas present this year, but you may well have done on Christmases past.

It is one of those games that guys of a certain age remember fondly, whether it was the hassle of laying the pitch out on the carpet and trying to keep it flat, (That’s an unlucky bobble just as you are about to shoot!) losing a ball under the sofa or, the worst crime of all, stepping on and breaking one of the precious players.

But that was all part of the fun and it kept us occupied for hours on end.

I must have been six or seven years old when I got my first set. I had saved up some pocket money and added it to my birthday money.

Me and my brother were staying at my Gran’s and with her visited a local toy shop and brought the Subbuteo Club Edition which included all the basics: A pitch, two goals, two teams (one with red shirts and white shorts and the other had blue shirts and white shorts) and two brown balls that looked bigger than the players.

Also included was a leaflet with the rules and tips on how to play the game and ‘How to Flick’.

My Gran had a huge dining room table, so we set it up on there to begin with but soon realised it was like playing on an ice rink! So, we moved to the floor and there we played.

Once I was back home and playing against my best friend, we would set up our own leagues, cups and tournaments.

Our selection of teams slowly increased so we still had to improvise with team colours. A team with white shirts and black shorts could be used for Tottenham, Fulham, West Germany and Manchester United away, while a team with orange shirts and white shorts would be used for Wolves, Blackpool and Holland.

Only a few special ones would be used for just the one team, like England or Wales 70s’ kit and Liverpool’s all-red strip. My friend somehow got Peru after the ’78 World Cup (white shirts with the red sash) and we used that for Crystal Palace as then they were white shirts with a blue and red sash. An all-time classic kit. In time, we added other accessories, including the interlocking fence with sponsored panels, goals with coloured nets, various trophies like the FA Cup or the World Cup, referees and linesmen, and grandstands with spectators.

Then there were things that didn’t work so well. The corner kickers and the throw-in figures - both of these would send the ball miles off the pitch sometimes never to be seen again.

Then we come to the Floodlights! These were among the more expensive accessories available and the first problem was that they came with only two in a box.

The excitement would build as you opened the box and removed them, inserting the 4 D-size batteries and switching them on. To get the full effect

you would switch off the main lights in the room and then… darkness!

There was less light than your average candle, so you either played in the dark or switched the main lights back on.

One of the cheaper items to buy were the sets of players’ numbers. These were a great idea, adding that touch of realism to the game. But there were two things you needed to get the most out of these - an almost incredible amount of patience and the tiniest fingers imaginable.

However, once you had managed to apply them to your players or got your mum to do it for you, they did look good.

Subbuteo has been around for over 70 years since its invention by Peter Adolph and from its earliest days with cardboard teams on an old army blanket with the pitch marked out in chalk to its heyday in the 70s and 80s with over seven million players flicking around the world and hundreds of teams available to buy, it was hugely popular.

Did you know that in 1987 Subbuteo was named Toy of the Year for the third time? Or that it was so much a part of British culture the game has been mentioned in two famous pop songs? The Undertones’ hit ‘My Perfect Cousin’ and in the tune ‘All I Want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit’ by Half Man Half Biscuit - two verses are dedicated to it. Television also tapped into its popularity with a comedy-drama series ‘Playing for Real’ based around the exploits of the fictitious ‘Real Falkirk’, the most successful Subbuteo club in the country. More recently, it featured in an episode of the sitcom ‘Outnumbered’. Finally, the comic strip story ‘Mike’s Mini Men’ appeared for a long time in the famous ‘Roy of the Rovers’ comic. The main character has many adventures that involved him and his friends playing Subbuteo. His team was Melchester Rovers which, of course, is the team of the great Roy Race. This was produced commercially and, in fact, I own a Melchester Rovers Subbuteo team that I have never taken out of its box. These days, it’s not that popular with the generation that have grown up on PlayStation and X Box games. But it is still around, especially with the 40-plus. You can go on various social media sites and see that the game is still thriving. Some of the old teams and accessories have become highly sought after by collectors and some of the prices paid at toy fairs around the country are amazing. Indeed, there is a small company “FlicksForKicks” that specialise in making quality bespoke tables for the game. Check out their website if you get the chance. I got a table as a present for my 50th last year and it is a beautiful piece of workmanship. I have only a few teams now, but I collect the different England sets and, to me, they are among my most precious possessions. Subbuteo was, and still is, a legendary game, used by the top coaches in explaining tactics and by young and old having fun trying to flick and score.