Half Century League

At the relatively late age of nine, I discovered the joys of Subbuteo, even before I had chosen the football team which would remain my favourite for the rest of my life!

My friend David Lee, who lived across the road from me and I were playing when he asked me if I wanted to play him at Subbuteo? Not knowing what he was talking about, we went in his home and he set up the game in the family conservatory. I loved it! Already enjoying model railways, seeing the little figures fascinated me, and we played all day! David showed me how to get an exercise book and write scores down!

At this point, I had a liking for Notts County, because another of my friends supported them. However, David supported Manchester United, and when he told me they would be playing in that season's F A Cup Final against Southampton, my fragile allegiances went over to United! Southampton beat them, but by then I was a confirmed United fan. I still think Bobby Stokes was offside; Rest in Peace!

A few weeks later, my Mum and I were visiting my Uncle Jack and Auntie Joan. I have no idea how the conversation got onto Subbuteo, but Uncle Jack asked me if I wanted my cousin Michael's set, as he never played with it any more? Did I ever!!!! No idea if my cousin was even consulted about this, and as we don't get on any more, I don't suppose it will ever happen now. Anyway, Uncle Jack brought us home in the car. I sat in the back seat with my boxed set minus the pitch, sat in my lap. The pitch was crammed into the car next to me, on a hardboard!

Dad and I had loads of fun playing in those times. Even though the teams were red and blue, we used them to represent absolutely anyone! His red team were inevitably Nottingham Forest when he played with them. Right up until Christmas came around that year, and I had been looking through the late 1960s team list which had come with the box set, picking out which teams and accessories I wanted. All my pocket money was spent on Subbuteo. I had new balls, referee and linesmen, a few more teams, including 100 Manchester United. For Christmas, I opened 5 Manchester City and 25 Celtic, and I remember putting the board on my parents' bed, and playing a solo game.

I was told by David that Redmayne and Todd, the Nottingham city centre sports store sold lots of Subbuteo, but somehow I never got round to visiting, until much later. Instead, I got most of my teams from the big Co-op in the city, Skills toy shop (pictured) or Diddyland which was a local toy shop to our village.

I remember being in Skills one day and Dad and I were choosing a new team for me. We were lifting the lids of those wonderful heavyweight teams and looking inside. One of the teams was 53 Rangers. I loved the blue bases and red disks and bought them. When we got home, I discovered one of the players was missing. We must have lost him while we were looking in the shop. We never returned to get him, and it wasn't until 2023, when I was buying spare players to replace broken ones, that I finally got the missing Rangers player! Only took just over forty years....

The big Co-op on Upper Parliament Street was always a treat. There was a large restaurant and sports department on the fourth (top) floor, and after impatiently scoffing my lunch, I would always enjoy going to look at the range of Subbuteo teams and accessories. It's probably my memory playing tricks on me, but in my mind, the aisle with teams on must have extended around 15 feet!!! I remember buying amongst others, 55 Anderlecht, 74 Aston Villa, 77 Wolves and 205 Cardiff City from here.

Even holidays didn't prevent me from adding to my collection. A family holiday at that time was a week in Great Yarmouth, and I remember buying 16 Arsenal and a scoreboard while we were away!

By now, I was itching to set up a league. I had been playing random matches using my teams, kneeling on the carpet on the landing (where games were played for many years as it had the least bumpy surface). I had purchased a copy of the football magazine called "Scoop", which nobody remembers! In there was a very early fantasy league team, where players in the real league were scrutinised for goals, assists, saves etc and the teams they played for won points (sounds familiar, huh?) I loved the team names. I decided the team names would make up the 12 teams in my first league.

They were Midlands Select, Southcoast City, Thames Southern, Manchester Town, Northern Town, Glasgow Wanderers, Birmingham United, Pool City, North London, East England, Leeds District and Eastern Town. I remember Midlands Select were top of the league and Northern Town were bottom when I abandoned the league. I was playing every single match and it was taking me forever to get to the end of a week's fixtures! Early experiences taught me that I would need to come up with some other way of simulating some of the matches.

My friend Adrian, who again I later fell out with, (there's a theme developing here) and I decided to set up a league using the 22 teams in the Central League, which was basically all the reserve teams playing in the 1970s and 1980s. Dad had been taking me to see Nottingham Forest Reserves on a regular basis, as with the crowd trouble rampant at the time, he thought it was too dangerous for me to go and see first team action. He did relent in the close season though and I got to see Nottingham Forest play both Tampa Bay Rowdies and New York Cosmos (minus Pele). But I digress.

Adrian and I picked eleven teams each, and started buying teams to complete our league set up. Seems we were too optimistic. We ended up buying the teams but didn't even complete a single round of fixtures! I still wish I had picked Burnley to be one of my teams.....I did purchase 170 Burnley later on, with the blue V on the front.

Instead we went our own way, and set up two different leagues, one each, for solo play. I had two divisions of eight teams, using some of the teams I had bought for the Central League that never got off the ground. Manchester United had to be in there! I remember this season was completed, with United as champions, naturally, and then the second season was abandoned.

At this point, I was an avid reader of "Roy of the Rovers" comic. I still love remembering the stories, especially the main Roy story. One issue, Subbuteo had an advert in there to buy a Melchester Rovers team. I had to have it, and eagerly sent off my postal order, shortly before we went to Teignmouth on holiday. The team was waiting for me when I got home! A new league was in order, and the previous one above, was abandoned. (Well Leeds United were winning it anyway!)

This became my longest running childhood league, running to three complete seasons. Melchester Rovers played teams such as Tynecaster, Carford City, Portdean, Redstoke and arch rivals Melboro! I got very immersed in this league, and did team selections , goalscoring charts etc. I would play a game every morning before school on the landing. I'm sure Mum must have hated having to watch where she was walking as she stepped on Mel Park, while getting up and going downstairs!

While all this was going on, I was still collecting. One day at school, Adrian, Ian and I got together. I had recently got Ian into Subbuteo and he was as mad for it as we were. We knew John Menzies in the Broad Marsh shopping centre had a sale on teams (which by now had turned into lightweight teams, rather than the heavyweights I loved). Somehow I didn't purchase many Zombie teams. Clearly they were as unpopular then as they are now!

Again, I digress. We went to Menzies, and each bought a team. Mine were 194 Crystal Palace. The princely sum of £1.25! Just along the way was the Broad Marsh branch of Skills. So we decided to look in there at teams as well. We didn't see any we wanted, and as we were leaving, I read a sign which said something along the lines of children would not be allowed in, unless accompanied by an adult. We realised we'd broken their rules, and ran out of the shop and down the escalator, laughing. At the bottom, we stopped to regroup and chat, when suddenly a Skills sales assistant arrived and told us we needed to return to the store! We were wrongfully being suspected of shoplifting, as we'd run away from there. We felt people watching us, as we were escorted back to Skills. We explained what had happened, and showed them our team purchases from Menzies. I don't think they fully believed us, even though our teams clearly had John Menzies price labels on, and we had receipts, but we were allowed to leave.

That experience permanently put any thoughts of a life of crime out of my young head!

The three of us decided to set up a small league to play each other, and together with a fourth lad, Pete, we got the league ready. My team were called Keyworth Buteo. They played in 205 Cardiff City strip. I lost my first three games. The third game I lost 7-2 and had a strop. I am ashamed to say that it was the end of our league, and also the end of my friendship with these three lads, as they wanted nothing more to do with me.

I set up my final league after that. It was a solo league, and used 350 Southampton, an all too familiar lightweight team. The team would be called Northcastle United, and they played against other invented teams. I tried to do the team selection, goalscorer thing which I had started with my earlier Melchester Rovers league, and to be fair, Northcastle played two full seasons.

By this point, my interest had started to wane. I had been bullied quite badly at school, had my exams coming up and was a very anxious teenager. I lost interest in almost everything except my model railway, and the Subbuteo was packed away. Over the years I did try and set up leagues again, but quickly lost interest.

In the late eighties, I went through a phase of collecting Italian teams, which coincided with the Italian league being broadcast on Channel 4 on Sunday afternoons. I got 57 AC Milan, 58 Inter Milan, 72 Genoa, 398 Sampdoria and 789 Pescara, among others. Then in the early 2000s the teams came out again, as I joined the East Midlands Alliance, a Subbuteo league based in Newark, Notts; run by Trevor Arthur. I wasn't very good. I had trouble scoring, but no trouble at all conceding! My team were 78 Plymouth Argyle. Still I enjoyed it, until I agreed to go to a tournament somewhere in South Yorkshire.

On that day, I found out just how poor I was. I lost 14-0 not once, but twice in my group games to different opponents! My other game I lost 5-0. That was the day I retired from Subbuteo, and this retirement lasted fifteen years. In that time, I created a website / excuse to list my teams and accessories. If it still exists, I will try and find the address and put a link to it on this website.

Then I saw how much stuff was available on ebay. I started collecting again. I like lightweight teams, Zeugo teams and Paul Lloyd's Top Spin and Santiago teams. I started commissioning Paul to paint American MLS teams, USL teams and NASL teams. Paul's teams are excellent, and I decided I would have a go myself. I began with the NASL's Los Angeles Aztecs, and purchased a paint your own Zeugo team to create them.

I also got in touch with Mike Bradbury of the South Staffs League, as they were the nearest club to where I live. I began to play competitive Subbuteo again in the South Staffs. They played every third Sunday afternoon, and I made many friends there. The first season I finished second bottom, with eleven points. I was still a long way off becoming a good player! I enjoyed the camaraderie of these guys though, and made a good friendship with Mick Murphy. Two seasons later, I came seventh out of sixteen, with a very creditable 32 league points, and progressed to the second round of the Staffordshire Cup for the first time ever! I must have been improving.

Unfortunately, as seems to be the trend with me, Mike Bradbury and I had a major disagreement, which led to me quitting the club midway through my fourth season with them. For once, the reason for the disagreement was not of my making. I retained my friendship with everyone else at the club, I am glad to say.I quickly found a newly formed club in Leicester; the Leicester Foxes. I liked the look of their club, with its base in a sports centre, a bar, hot food and Sky Sports TVs. Not only that, one of my team mates is Trevor Arthur, the same guy I played with at the East Midlands Alliance, before my "retirement". The club was only formed in 2022 but we are already twinned with the American MOIsT club and my good friends Jeff Drake and Therron Thomas. MOIsT means Missouri, Ohio, Indiana and some of Texas, by the way.  For more information on the club, see below  At the end of 2023 it was the Foxes' privilege to welcome MOIsT player Therron to one of our club nights, and a great evening was had. By this point, the club had moved to another venue. It still had a bar and food could be ordered, but alas, no Sky Sports TVs.

Andy Fake and I are also good friends, and as well as running the ISSL (see below), Andy runs the North East Midlands Senior Subbuteo League. It has six players including ourselves, and there is a massive gap between the other five players and me. In my first season, I lost all my ten games, didn't score once and conceded almost forty goals. In subsequent seasons, my performance has not been much better!

The International Solo Subbuteo League was created on Facebook a couple of years ago, and I am proud to say I am one of the founding members and also one of the administrators. Andy Fake does all the hard work, organising leagues and fixtures, and I just dip my toe in to help out now and again, and ride on his coat tails! The ISSL is a success! We have more than 150 members in our league. My teams are Manchester United, currently in Division 1, and Pescara, currently in Division 2. Many people around the world are involved, playing solo Subbuteo games and submitting them to Andy, so that he can formulate league tables. Manchester United won the ISSL Cup in Season 1, beating Aston Villa 5-2. The game was played by Vangelis Scotinotis in Athens. Then in Season 3, United won the Second Division by three points to gain promotion. United successfully won the Division 1 title in Season 8. Pescara have had less success, but have gained promotions from Division 4 to Division 2. My brother Richard also used to have two teams, AC Milan and Fulham. However he is no longer a member.

The latest friend to come into my Subbuteo world has been Trevor Allen. Trevor organises a less formal set of leagues, for Heavyweight and Lightweight teams; modern teams and old style flat figure teams. I have Northcastle United in the first league, playing in 72 Cagliari lightweight colours.  Craiglang FC are in the modern league playing in Zeugo 283 Bristol City colours and my flats team is Rassburg Twenty which are represented by 20 Hamilton Academicals.  Quite a few beginners come to Trevor's and enjoy the evening, including my boss!

And that's where we are today. I currently have over 200 teams. Heavyweights, Zombies, Lightweights, Hasbros, Top Spins, Zeugos, Santiago and even a Subbuteo flat team. My Top Spins are my favourites. They remind me very much of the Heavyweights, which were my first collected teams. I was often being asked by my South Staffs team mates to try flat, modern bases. I have a few, but as Andy Fake of the ISSL says; it's like playing glorified shove ha'penny! However, I have begun to play competitive games with Zeugo flat based teams. My main team carry black and orange stripes, the strip of Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine. My team is called "Frontier Burn".

Since starting to play in the South Staffs League, the Leicester Foxes and the ISSL, I have made new friends and attended Subbuteo collectors fairs. Ebay is always a good source of stuff, both new and second hand, filling in some of the gaps in my collection. Then I cannot rate Paul Lloyd's Top Spin teams more highly. They bring me back full circle to the teams I collected in the 1970s and 1980s. There are also great Youtube videos to see. My favourites are "Youbutteo" by Stewart Grant and "Table Football Monthly" by Keith Littler, Danielle and Smiffy!

In 2023, with the help of the Leicester Foxes, we even hosted our own Collector's Fair in a church hall on the outskirts of Leicester. It was very popular and we hope to make this an annual event.  

I am also an honorary member of the MOIsT League in the USA. This is a group of lads who get together in Missouri, Ohio, Indiana and some of Texas (hence MOIsT) several times a year to play in tournaments among their members. They make a full weekend of the tournaments and socialise as well, doing other things as well as playing Subbuteo, such as going to MLS and USL games, having barbecues, going out and having a great time. I am hoping to travel to St Louis in Missouri one year to take part in the Brick Tamland Tournament. I played Subbuteo against my good friends Jeff Drake and Therron Thomas in a games store in Indianapolis in 2018. Both beat me quite easily, but I did manage to get two goals past Jeff in one of the games! I first met Jeff in Preston a couple of years earlier, when his son had trials in Merseyside. Ian Drake is a football player who I would not be surprised to see gracing the fields of an MLS team in the future, if not playing at a higher level. He also had some trials for Feyenoord. He is currently playing to a high level at Northern Illinois University. I am pleased to be a member of MOIsT, even though I am unlikely to regularly play in their tournaments.

Finally, my Half Century League is a direct link back to those early leagues I played as a child.  I think I love this game for nostalgic purposes, but also because it is great fun, whether played solo or against an opponent.  The collecting aspect is great too.  Many players and collectors seem to be around my age group also.  I guess we are all very similar minded.  I know the clubs are making efforts to get younger players involved, and I wholeheartedly support this.  If the kids would move away from their computers for a while and give this game a try, I think the football fans among them would love it.  You don't have to be brilliant (I'm not!) to enjoy Subbuteo.  It's a game for all ages, male and female.

At the end of Season 3, I decided to have my version of either the World Cup or the European Championships / Copa America.  I created a tournament called the Euromerica Cup.  There would be four groups of four teams.  Each group would have three European teams, because of my bias!  The fourth team would be an American one.

The groups finished as follows, with the top two teams in each group qualifying for the Quarter Finals.

Group A
England 7
USA 6
Romania 3
Spain 1

Group B
Scotland 6
Poland 6
Italy 3
Brazil 3

Group C
Wales 7
France 6
Argentina 3
Russia 1

Group D
United Ireland 7
Mexico 6
Czech Republic 3
Germany 1

Some real shocks there. United Ireland were created, to save the Irish teams taking two spots. Spain, Italy, Brazil, Argentina and Germany were all surprisingly eliminated during the group stages.

Quarter Finals
England 2 Mexico 1
Scotland 2 France 2  (France won 2-1 in the shoot out).
Wales 1 Poland 1  (Wales won 2-0 in the shoot out).
United Ireland 4 USA 1

Semi Finals
England 2 France 1
Wales 1 United Ireland 3

Final
England 1 United Ireland 1.  

England finally won the Final, after both teams drew 1-1 in a shoot out, and then England finally won in Sudden Death shoot out.

These are my C100 reference Subbuteo teams, in numerical order. Each one has a comment next to it, together with all the clubs I have used the team to represent. You may find the comments silly, but I have included them to be nostalgic....

Please note that I have uploaded a lot of these teams from my original Subbuteo website from the teams page. Unfortunately, the original website is unavailable now, so I've taken the original text, updated it with teams I've bought since, and left the comments as they were then!

1. Red shirts, White shorts, Red socks.
Nottingham Forest, Barnsley, Charlton Athletic.
One of the original two teams which came with my second hand set. Poor condition, with little paint on some of them. Others have arms missing.

2. Blue shirts, White shorts, Blue socks.
Ipswich Town, Everton, Oldham Athletic, St Johnstone.
The other one of my original teams. Again, in poor condition, similar to No 1 above.

3. Blue and white striped shirts, white shorts, white socks.
West Bromwich Albion, Brighton and Hove Albion, Kilmarnock.
An original heavyweights team I purchased recently through ebay. Although the white on the shirts is stained with time, still a classic.

4. Red and white striped shirts, White shorts, Red and white socks.
Stoke City.
One of my favourite colour schemes when I was young. I bought this team to copy my friend David, who lived across the road.

5. Sky blue shirts, white shorts, sky blue socks.
Manchester City, Lazio, Malmo.
I remember playing with this team on Christmas Day morning with my other new team, No 25 Celtic. In those days, I was much more tolerant to the natural rivals to Manchester United!

6. Yellow shirts with black trim, black shorts, yellow socks.
Borussia Dortmund, Alloa, East Fife.
Don't you love buying a team off ebay, and it comes in the wrong box? This came in a box proclaiming it to be 652, although that team bears blue and white stripes. No, definitely a Lightweight 6.

7. Claret and blue shirts, white shorts, claret socks.
West Ham United.
A complete team I purchased as loose spares from a Subbuteoworld fair near Sheffield. I later bought a box for them!

8. Black and white striped shirts, black shorts, black socks.
Notts County, Newcastle United.
I’m not sure when I bought this one, but I definitely have it!

9. Red and white striped shirts, black shorts, red and white socks.
Sunderland, Sheffield United, Southampton.
One day, Dad came home from work with a load of teams his colleague Bruce had given to me. I was overjoyed! This team is in, shall we say, well used condition.

10. White Shirt, black shorts, black socks.
Fulham.
I purchased this team, because I remember it was the single team Richard had when we were young. It’s a repainted heavyweight team.

11. Blue and white hooped shirts, white shorts, white socks.
Queens Park Rangers, Morton, Reading.
This was a team I always wanted when I was young. Now I have it, thanks to ebay.

12. Blue and white quartered shirts, white shorts, white socks.
Bristol Rovers.
Another visit to ebay, another auction, another team in the collection.

13. Tangerine shirts with white trim, white shorts, tangerine and white socks.
Blackpool.
Purchased from ebay. My only team with the original wire goalkeeper!

16. Red shirts with white sleeves, white shorts, white and red socks.
Arsenal, Rotherham United.
A team I really wanted. I purchased this team while I was on holiday in Great Yarmouth one year. I couldn't wait to get home to play.

17. Blue shirts with white sleeves, white shorts, blue and white socks.
Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich Town.
Another of the teams Bruce gave to me, and brought home from work by Dad.

19. Red and blue striped shirts, blue shorts, white socks.
Barcelona.
Another lightweight I purchased, so that I owned a Barcelona team.

20. Red and white hoops, white shorts and black socks.
Doncaster Rovers, Hamilton Academicals
My one and only celluloid flat figures, with Photoreal bases.  An unusual hybrid.

21. White shirts, white shorts, white socks. NOW SOLD AND REPLACED WITH A ZOMBIE TEAM.
Real Madrid, Leeds United.
All white kit. I have had the lightweight version and the zombie version, although I'd prefer to replace it with a heavyweight eventually.

23. Yellow and red striped shirts, black shorts, yellow and red socks.
Bradford City, Partick Thistle, Motherwell.
Purchased in my second wind of collecting during the nineties. I was intrigued by the colour scheme, and they were in a sale.

24. Black and white hooped shirts, white shorts, white socks with black tops.
Queens Park.
A team purchased by me as one of my opponents In the ISSL. Santiago team similar to heavyweights.

25. Green and white hooped shirts, white shorts, white socks.
Celtic, Sporting Lisbon.
See also No 5. My other Christmas Day Subbuteo team.

28. Canary yellow shirts with green trim, green shorts, white socks.
Norwich City.
I loved playing with this team, as I had few yellow teams. I often used them for away strips as well.

29. Yellow shirts with red hoops, white shorts, red socks.
Partick Thistle.
I actually ordered Reference 209 from Paul Lloyd for Christmas 2023 and he painted this one for me in error!  I'm glad he did, as I like it a lot.

30. Yellow and black striped shirts, black shorts, black socks.
Berwick Rangers.
Yes! Since a kid, I always wanted these cool colours. Okay, so I finally managed to track it down 25 years later, but the point is I finally have it....Yes!

36. White and green striped shirts, white shorts, white socks with green tops.
Real Betis, Bradford Park Avenue.
Another Santiago team which are similar to heavyweights. A nice looking team.

40. Claret and pale blue striped shirts, white shorts, claret socks with pale blue tops.
Crystal Palace.
A heavyweight team I purchased from ebay. The original owner obviously used to have a big rivalry with his Arsenal-supporting brother!

41. Red shirts, red shorts, red socks.
Liverpool.
This team is all red, even down to the red outer and inner sections of the base. I purchased this heavyweight team through ebay.

42. Blue shirts, blue shorts, white socks.
Chelsea, Montrose, Birmingham City.
One of the teams I bought, while buying teams only cost 50 pence of my pocket money. Happy days!

43. Sky blue shirts with dark blue trim, sky blue shorts, sky blue and dark blue socks.
Coventry City.
The team I used to represent Midland Select in my first league. Now well worn with the paint coming off.

45. Green shirts with white sleeves, white shorts, white socks.
Hibernian.
Another long yearned-for team, finally purchased off ebay.

47. Yellow shirts, blue shorts, yellow socks.
Mansfield Town, Torquay United, Oxford United, Modena.
This was a team I wanted for a very long time, as it also represents quite a number of 1970s teams away kits. Can also be seen from quite some distance in thick fog.

50. Yellow shirts, blue shorts, white socks.
Brazil.
I finally have a Brazil kit. They are a zombie team, and were bought in a job lot off ebay. I have also got the more wanted Heavyweight team.

53. Blue with red and white trim shirts, blue shorts, blue, white and red socks.
Rangers, Portsmouth.
I bought this team from Skills in Nottingham City Centre, long since closed down now. I looked inside the box with Dad, and must have lost one of the players in the shop. For many years, I used an "eleventh man" to make up the numbers when I played with this team, before ordering a spare from Subbuteo directly. Unfortunately, the spare was a Zombie, and was immediately ostracised!

55. Mauve shirts, white shorts, mauve socks.
Anderlecht, Fiorentina.
Purchased from the huge Co-op Store in Nottingham, fourth floor, Sports Department. It was always a pleasure to look through the teams here. Sadly missed.

56. White shirts with a red central stripe, white shorts, white socks.
Ajax.
A recent purchase through ebay. A team I always wanted and never quite got round to buying, until now.

57. Red and black striped shirts, white shorts, black and red socks.
AC Milan, Foggia.
Another purchase from my second spate of team purchases. Used by me when playing in the challenge matches on work lunchtimes in the 90s.

58. Blue and black striped shirts, black shorts, black and blue socks.
Inter Milan, Atalanta, Brugges.
Purchased by myself at the same time as No 57, from Skills in the Broad Marsh Centre, Nottingham during the 90s.

72. Blue and red halved shirts, blue shorts, blue and red socks.
Cagliari, Genoa.
Yet another in the 1990s Italian Team phase of purchases. I was keen on collecting Serie A teams at that time.

74. Claret shirts with blue V, white shorts, pale blue socks.
Aston Villa.
Back to the Co-op on Parliament Street, Nottingham. I loved going there to buy my teams, as they were all at young lad's height, and the boxes could be easily opened.

76. Red and black striped shirts, black shorts, black socks.
Manchester City Away, Foggia.
This colour scheme is very striking, and although Man City are my team's natural rivals, I am still impressed with this team strip. An ebay purchase.

77. Old gold shirts with black trim, black shorts, old gold socks.
Wolverhampton Wanderers, Newport County.
Another team I bought from the Co-op. I loved their orange and black bases, as they stood out from the rest of my collection.

78. Green and black striped shirts, black short, black socks.
Plymouth Argyle.
My most expensive team, purchased from a Subbuteo Club meeting in Swinton, Greater Manchester. One I always wanted as a child.

81. White shirts with red trim, black shorts, red socks.
Liverpool Away, Darlington.
Another of the teams Dad brought home from work. Unfortunately, Bruce has drawn black hoops on the shirts at some time during his childhood! I have since given their white shirts a repaint to make them look better.

87. Blue shirts with white sleeves and red trim, red shorts, white socks with blue and red trim.
Haarlem.
This defunct Dutch team lives on in my collection. Made by Santiago, and given the rarer red shorts, usually only available in Holland. They were usually white shorts in the UK.

99. Maroon shirts, white shorts, black socks.
Torino, Heart of Midlothian, Arbroath, Salernitana, Reggiana.
Another team from my Italian phase.

100. Red shirts with white V, white shorts, black and red socks.
Manchester United.
Ah, Man United. My very first United team, with their white and red bases. Much played with, and still one of my favourites.

101. Blue shirts with a white Penguin stripe, white shorts, blue socks.
Birmingham City, Carlisle United.
Another team I purchased because they were different from all my other blue teams.

148. White shirts with red diagonal triangle, red shorts, white socks with red tops.
Monaco.
A lovely hard to find lightweight team purchased from the internet.

151. Red shirts with black and yellow trim, black shorts, red, black and yellow socks.
Belgium, Bournemouth.
A team I enjoyed playing with. They represented Northern Town in my original league, and had zero points until about the twelfth game of their season!

154. White shirts, black shorts, white socks.
Tottenham Hotspur, Derby County, Bolton Wanderers, England, Fulham.
One of my most useful teams. The players look quite grubby now, because white Subbuteo kits do not tend to stay white for very long....

163. Pale blue shirts, black shorts, black socks.
Uruguay.
Mum and Dad went into town to shop, and I asked them to bring Coventry City back. The store they went to did not have Coventry, so they brought back Uruguay instead. I did not like them at first, but they are a valuable part of my collection now.

169. Orange shirts with white and black stripe on the right, black shorts, orange socks.
Luton Town.
Purchased from Trevor of the East Midlands Alliance Subbuteo league. A team I always wanted as a youngster.

170. Claret shirts with a blue chevron, white shorts, white socks.
Burnley.
A lovely kit which I purchased from Santiago Table Soccer.

171. Red shirts with a white horizontal band, red shorts, white socks.
Middlesborough.
A nice heavyweight team, which I enjoyed using when playing in the Subbuteo club near Newark.

172. Pale blue shirts with black trim, black shorts, pale blue socks.
Coventry City
A mid seventies Coventry home shirt. I actually wanted this kit and asked Mum and Dad to buy it for me when they went into Nottingham. Unfortunately, Dad couldn't find it, and he purchased Reference 163 for me instead, which I have also come to love.

192. Blue shirts with white lines on the shoulders and V neck, white shorts, white socks with blue tops.
Leicester City.
Purchased in a job lot as a standard blue reference 2 kit. White paint used to turn it into 192. Zombie team.

194. White shirts with blue and red diagonal band, white shorts, white socks.
Crystal Palace.
Here's a story! I went to town with Adie and Ian after school, and we went into Skill's in the Broad Marsh Centre. We didn't see any teams we liked, so we went downstairs to John Menzies, where I bought 194 for £1.25. However, a Skills shop assistant waited for us to come out of Menzies' with our new teams, and then accused us of shoplifting from their store! We were escorted back, made to show our teams from John Menzies and our receipts. How embarrassing.

196. Blue shirts with a white and red Y motif, blue shorts, blue socks.
Dundee.
Another team I always wanted as a kid. I eventually got them in adulthood, from the Subbuteoworld fair near Sheffield. This was actually a repainted zombie team, which I eventually sold and replaced with a Top Spin team from Paul Lloyd.

197. White with red “braces”, white shorts, shorts with red trim, white socks.
Orient.
A team I wanted when I was a boy again. I bought them from the Subbuteoworld fair near Sheffield, many years after the Dundee team above! A Top Spin team by Lloydie.

205. Blue shirts with a yellow and white band, blue shorts, blue, yellow and white socks.
Cardiff City.
Purchased from Skill's, Nottingham City Centre for its novelty value. Represented Keyworth Buteo in the league where I finished bottom.

206. Light blue shirts with a white and black "Y" shape, light blue shorts, light blue socks.
Coventry City.
Who could forget the 1970s Coventry kit? It's not very well represented on the Subbuteo team, but a must, nevertheless. Could you have hand painted it?

207. White shirts with blue trim, white shorts, white socks.
Leeds United.
Boo! Leeds. Purchased from Diddyland, another shop now gone.

209. Claret shirts with blue chevrons, white shorts, white socks.
West Ham United.
Purchased by me recently through e-bay. I always liked the look of this team in the catalogue, as it was different, and now I own it.

214. Red shirts, red shorts, red socks.
Middlesbrough, Bayern Munich, Aberdeen.
Another team I recently obtained through e-bay. Quite a useful team.

219. Blue shirts with white trim, white shorts, blue socks.
Ipswich Town, Chester City, Hartlepool.
A nice lightweight team, purchased off ebay.

287. Black and white striped shirts, black shorts, white and black socks.
Notts County, Newcastle United, Udinese, Juventus.
Basically, think of a team who play in black and white stripes, and the chances are I used this team to represent them.

311. Light blue shirts with a white and black vertical stripe, light blue shorts, light blue socks.
Forfar Athletic.
A hand painted team by the Santiago company. Very nice.

317. White shirts with red and blue trim, blue shorts, white socks with red and blue trim.
England.
The 1970s England strip, with more red and blue on than is usually seen nowadays. Another zombie team.

319. Red shirts with a green and yellow "Y", red shorts, red socks.
Wales.
Do you remember the late 70s, when Coventry had a blue strip with a "Y" shape in the middle? This is the Wales version. What on Earth were they thinking? Purchased for its novely value, but came without a goalie. No wonder Wales find it difficult to qualify for the European Championships and World Cup! I later replaced this Zombie team with a Top Spin one from Paul Lloyd.

325. White shirts with three black stripes down the side, black shorts, black socks.
Manchester United Away.
Representing a classic United away strip. Great colours.

329. White shirts with blue and red shoulder bands, blue shorts, white socks with blue and red tops.
England.
The iconic early 80s Admiral shirt. One I remember fondly seeing as a child.

350. Red and white striped shirts, black shorts, white socks.
Southampton.
I also used this team for Northcastle United. Well used.

354. Yellow shirts with red trim, red shorts, red and black socks.
Watford.
Purchased in Normans, Cleethorpes, and came complete with two broken armed-players. It was too far to return the team from Nottingham. Used for several away strips.

377. Orange shirts with black trim, black shorts, orange socks.
Wolverhampton Wanderers, Barnet, Dumbarton, Meadowbank Thistle.
Another lightweight team purchased from ebay.

398. Blue shirts with white, red and black horizontal bands, white shorts, blue socks.
Sampdoria.
A nice strip this, one of my Italian collection.

403. Green shirts, red shorts, yellow socks.
Cameroon.
Long admired, this kit, since I saw them in the World Cup way back when.

415. Blue shirts with white, red and green trim, white shorts, blue socks.
Italy.
After Jeff Drake my American friend, told me he had this one I decided to get one myself off ebay. It’s nice!

433. Red shirts with yellow trim, blue shorts, red socks.
Spain and Osasuna.
Purchased from ebay. No idea why it took me so long to purchase this lightweight kit. Really nice.

453. White shirts with black trim, black shorts, white socks with black trim.
Manchester United.
Another United away strip from the 1980s. They had so many white strips!

472. Blue and red striped shirts, blue shorts, blue and red hooped socks.
Barcelona.
The Mighty Spanish giants. Purchased from ebay.

495. Sky blue shirts, white shorts, sky blue socks.
Napoli, Forfar Athletic, Malmo, Lazio.
I know it's not strictly Lazio's kit, but it saves me buying another pale blue strip similar to Nos 5 and 43.

500. Blue shirts with white hoops and thin red hoops, white shorts, white socks.
Queens Park Rangers.
A very nice kit this. Took a long time for the seller to send it to me after I paid for it on ebay.

529. Mid blue shirts with white and red trim, white shorts, red socks.
Dundee.
A nice kit this, purchased over the internet from ebay.

574. Red shirts with white and black trim, white shorts, black socks.
Manchester United.
After I posted on Facebook that this was one of the last Man United Subbuteo teams I needed, somebody sent one to me anonymously!!!! It turned out to be ISSL player and West Ham fan, Gary Gladwell!

578. White shirts with black and red trim, black shorts, black socks with white and red tops.
Manchester United.
A nice clean looking away strip. The box quotes United as 1985 FA Cup winners, but they played in red in the final!

579. Thin black striped shirts, white shorts, white socks with black tops.
Juventus, Ascoli, St Mirren.
Purchased off ebay, but to my dismay, had no goalkeeper, or even a box! I have since provided both.

608. Yellow shirts with maroon trim, maroon shorts and yellow socks.
Motherwell.
An ebay purchase, which arrived with broken players. Players now repaired and in one case, a new base off a West Ham spare player was grafted on! The West Ham figure lives with the Motherwell team in their box, as an honorary Motherwell squad player!

617. Blue shirts with large white and yellow band, white shorts and white socks.
Everton.
Bought off ebay. The 1985 FA Cup team kit. Nice.

624. Red shirts with black and white trim, black shorts, white socks.
Southampton, Molenbeek.
Yet again, a purchase from ebay.

639. Blue shirts with white and red band across the chest, white shorts, red socks with blue tops.
France.
I was inspired to buy this team, after seeing it on an episode of Keith Littler's Table Football Monthly Youtube programme.

641. Red shirts with black and white trim, white shorts with red trim, black socks with red and white tops.
Manchester United.
I must have most of the different United kits which Subbuteo produced over the years!

645. White with blue and yellow trim, white shorts and white socks.
Leeds United.
My most modern Leeds team from the late eighties. Purchased as a bargain off ebay.

649. Red shirts with yellow trim, red shorts with yellow trim, red socks with yellow tops.
Belgium.
These look really similar to my Roy of the Rovers Melchester Rovers kit. Nice and bright.

650. Blue with yellow shoulder pads and chest stripe(!), blue shorts and blue socks.
Wimbledon.
This team represents the days before Wimbledon upped and left South West London. Very good.

653. White with blue and red trim, blue shorts with white and red trim, white socks with red and blue trim.
England.
I already had a zombie version of the England kit, but I thought I’d get a lightweight one as well. This is the kit England wore at the Euros in 1988.

660. Red and white pin striped half shirts and full red on the other half, black shorts and white socks.
Southampton.
Another Southampton iconic kit from the 1990s. Very nice.

666. Blue and white hooped shirts, white shorts, white socks. NOW SOLD
Queens Park Rangers, Morton, Reading.
A nice clean looking strip. Nothing much else to say except I hate the reference number.

674. White with light blue trim shirts, white shorts, white socks.
Marseille.
Another French team. Purchased over the internet through ebay.

680. Blue shirts with white trim, white shorts, red socks.
Scotland.
The last one of the Home International teams I purchased, again from ebay.

684. Red shirts with white bands, white shorts, red socks.
Manchester United.
Another United team, kit dating from the late 1980s to early 1990s.

689. Tangerine shirts, white shorts, tangerine socks.
Blackpool, Holland.
Only my second "orange" kit, 77 being the other. Purchased through ebay. Do I not like orange?

690. Blue shirts with yellow collars, blue shorts, blue socks.
Verona.
Not a lot different to 650, so allocated to be uniquely Verona.

701. Red and blue striped shirts, red shorts, red socks. NOW SOLD
Crystal Palace.
An alternative Palace to 194. Purchased from ebay.

701. Red and blue striped shirts, pale blue shorts, red socks.
A slightly repainted Crystal Palace.
Altered to have Sureshot bases.

710. White with blue and yellow hoops, blue shorts, blue socks.
Scotland Away.
A kit painted for me by Paul Lloyd. Very nice.

727. Black and white stripes, with a thick black stripe, black shorts, black socks.
Newcastle United.
A slightly unusual strip with an off centre thick black stripe down the shirt. From the 95-96 season. Purchased off ebay.

729. Red shirts, white shorts, black socks.
Manchester United.
The kit worn by United when they won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1991. Purchased off ebay.

732. Pale blue and white chevron shirt, blue shorts, blue socks.
Manchester United 2nd.
The United “snowstorm” kit, seen by me first on a fan in Skegness.

736. White shirt with purple and red flash, purple shorts, white socks with purple and red tops.
Scotland 2nd Kit.
Another of Scotland's excellent away kits.  This one from 1992.  Painted by Paul Lloyd.  Received for Christmas 2023.

740. White shirt with blue trim, blue shorts, white socks.
Tottenham Hotspur.
This lightweight team was a long time in purchasing! I had made do with the old 154 for too long!

741. Red shirts with white Adidas stripes on the shoulder, red shorts, red socks.
Liverpool.
I remember this kit from the 90s and didn't have a Scouser lightweight team, so I bit the bullet and got this one from ebay.

742. White with black and green trimmed shirts, black shorts, green socks. NOW SOLD AND THEN REPURCHASED AGAIN!
Liverpool 2nd.
Much as it goes against the grain, I think this Liverpool strip is excellent. You won't catch me playing in any competitions with them though.…

743. Yellow with blue shoulder stripes and red JVC branding, blue shorts, yellow socks with blue tops.
Arsenal 2nd.
Another classic kit which I remember from the nineties. Purchased from Gary Gladwell of the ISSL, but didn’t have a box.

744. Pale blue shirts, white shorts, pale blue socks.
Manchester City
A nice turquoise shade of blue used for this City kit.

745. Blue shirts, white shorts with blue EFC, blue socks.
Everton.
A nice Everton strip from the 1995-96 season, purchased off ebay.

746. White and blue striped shirts, black shorts with white trim, blue socks.
Sheffield Wednesday.
A great kit from the eighties and nineties. Reminds me of trips to Hillsborough.

748. Blue with white and red shoulder stripe, blue shorts with white and red flash, blue socks with red tops.
Oldham Athletic, Chelsea.
A lovely kit which I purchased from Dave King, a fellow Subbuteo fan off ebay.

750. White shirts with blue sleeves and orange trim, blue shorts and white socks.
Luton Town.
A very unusual kit, but it looks really good. I dread to think how it would look if the figures were still hand-painted.

752. Claret with blue trim, white shorts and white socks with claret and blue trim.
West Ham United.
Another kit from the nineties. Nice kit this, one of West Ham's best.

753. Purple and dark blue design shirts, dark blue shorts, dark blue socks with purple tops.
Tottenham Hotspur 2nd.
A truly hideous away kit which Spurs used in the mid-nineties.

769. Blue shirts with white shoulder length stripes, white shorts, black socks.
Rangers.
A nice classic 90s Glasgow Rangers short purchased at the Stoke on Trent Subbuteo tournament.

770. Red shirts with "Sharp" across in white, white shorts, black socks.
Manchester United.
Early 1990s Man United kit with the sponsers name across. Used by me during the lunchtime challenge games.

771. Blue shirts, blue shorts and blue socks all with black markings on.
Manchester United.
This kit was replaced by a black and yellow one, and could be quite rare. Carries the "Sharp" name in white.

771. Black shirts with blue and yellow trim, black shorts and black socks.
Manchester United.
The “other” 771 mentioned above! Purchased from Chris Burford in Andover.

772. Yellow shirts with green and white patterns, green shorts, yellow socks.
Norwich City.
Remembered from the 1990s as the “Bird crap” shirt. Still very attractive.

773. White shirts with blue and red shoulder stripes, white shorts, white socks.
USA.
Just a very nice kit, purchased off ebay.

774. Red shirts with white sleeves, red and black zig zags, white shorts, red socks.
Arsenal.
A nice representation of a great 1990s Arsenal home kit.

776. Claret shirts with blue trim and sleeves, white shorts, blue socks.
Aston Villa.
An early 1990s Villa strip, which looks really good.

779. Yellow and blue striped shirts, blue shorts, yellow socks. NOW SOLD
Leeds United 2nd.
What was I doing buying a Leeds team? Actually I like this strip quite a lot. I wish now I hadn't sold it.

779. Blue with yellow trim, blue shorts, blue socks.
Leeds United 2nd.
I have bought another version of the Leeds team at the Leicester Foxes Subbuteo Collectors' Fair.

783. Blue and white halved shirt, white shorts, blue socks.
Blackburn Rovers.
This team was recently obtained through the ebay auctions.

789. White shirts with two tone blue zigzags, blue shorts, white socks.
Pescara.
This kit has to be seen to be believed. Another of my Italian Serie A collection, although Pescara have now dropped down two divisions. Used for one of my teams in the ISSL.

792. Yellow and green halved shirt with "Sharp" in black across the chest, black shorts, black socks.
Manchester United Away.
My favourite United away kit. I think United should resurrect it again. They don't need much encouragement to bring out a new kit anyway.

814. Black shirts with red pin stripes, red shorts, black socks.
Blackburn Rovers Away.
An unusual and possibly rare team in the Subbuteo catalogue. Purchased from ebay for £29.00, the most I have paid for a team, to date.

63004. Red and white striped shirts, white shorts, red socks. NOW SOLD
PSV Eindhoven.
A nice brand new version of the Stoke City Number 4 team. They seem to control better as well.

63137. White shirts with black trim, black shorts, black socks with red and white trim.
Manchester United Away.
Another Manchester United away strip added to the collection. A fairly common colour combination for United, this, but I'm glad to add it to the collection.

63151. Blue shirts with Newcastle Brown emblem, blue shorts, blue socks.
Newcastle United Away.
A nice Newcastle away kit from the mid 1990s.

63153. Yellow and green striped shirts with "Adidas" in black across the chest, yellow shorts, yellow socks.
Nantes, West Bromwich Albion Away. NOW SOLD AND THEN REPURCHASED AGAIN!
My latest team, purchased from "Chopper Harris" on ebay features this French League team. Apart from the three United teams below, they are the only Hasbro style team in my collection. They were then repurchased from another ebay seller together with his Lyon team.

63154. White shirts with blue trim and a red stripe, white shorts with blue and red trim, white socks.
Lyon.
A really nice kit, this, purchased from the same seller who sold me my Nantes the second time around!

63770. Red shirts with white trim, white shorts and black socks.
Manchester United.
The last of the original Subbuteo United home strip teams I needed to buy.

63771. Grey shirts with red trim, grey shorts and grey socks.
Manchester United.
The infamous grey kit which United famously changed at half time v Southampton. Purchased from Chris Burford.

63777. Red shirts with black shoulder pads, white shorts and red socks.
Nottingham Forest.
An iconic Forest kit from the 1990s, purchased at a Subbuteo tournament in Stoke on Trent.

Melchester Rovers team in all red with yellow stripes, representing the team in the comic strip in the 1970s and early 1980s.

I also have the three Manchester United teams which are enclosed in the United boxed set.

Hasbro unnumbered teams: Chelsea NOW SOLD, Leeds United NOW SOLD, Liverpool NOW SOLD, Manchester City, Feyenoord and Partick Thistle.

Finally I have a team which is in No. 21 box but have green shirts, white shorts and green socks. They are a lightweight team, but I have been unable to identify them. They are possibly 610.

Jeff sent me a Seattle Sounders team he has painted on modern bases, after he lost a United v Chelsea bet with me.

PAUL LLOYD PAINTED TEAMS

Columbus Crew MLS team. I’ve changed the Top Spin bases to CLR Dynamic bases, and played with them as my first team in the South Staffs Subbuteo League.

Manchester United team. I have also changed these to red CLR Dynamic bases.

IBrighton and Hove Albion team, which I used at a Subbuteo tournament in Stoke on Trent. It has blue and white striped shirts, blue shorts and white socks. It has blue bases and purple disks!

2019-20 Luton Town home

2019-20 Paris St Germain

1978-79 Shrewsbury Town kit.

ADO Den Haag

Walsall 3rd kit from the 2018/19 season, grey and green.

Real Madrid

Atletico Madrid

Coventry City “chocolate” Admiral away kit.

Manchester United black 3rd kit from the 2019/20 season and received Christmas 2019.

Manchester City 3rd kit from the 2019/20 season and received for Christmas 2019.

Celtic away strip from the 2019/20 season, received for Christmas 2019.

2023 Mansfield Town home kit.

2023 Wolfsburg lime green kit.

Getafe team from the 22/23 season.

Chelsea yellow away kit from 1998 which I've always liked the look of.

Lyon Home Kit from the 22/23 season.

Lyon Away Kit from the 21/22 season.

Columbus Crew yellow kit with CLR bases, as listed above.

Seattle Sounders kit as painted by Jeff, listed above

DC United black kit, again fitted with CLR bases.

Vancouver Whitecaps

San Jose Earthquakes

Orlando City

Los Angeles Galaxy

New York Red Bulls

Sporting Kansas City

FC Dallas

Montreal Impact

Minnesota United

New England Revolution

Philadelphia Union

Portland Timbers

Toronto FC

Houston Dynamo

New York City FC

Atlanta United

Colorado Rapids

Chicago Fire

Inter Miami

FC Cincinatti

Real Salt Lake

Los Angeles FC

Nashville SC

Austin FC

Charlotte FC

St Louis City

Columbus Crew in their black kit,

Tulsa Roughnecks

Indy Eleven

Las Vegas Lights

New Mexico United

Tampa Bay Rowdies.

New York Cosmos

San Antonio Thunder

New England Teamen.

When I was a kid at the Seagull Club at the Ladbrokes holiday camp in Shaldon, I designed a football kit and called the team Seagull Valley Football Club. The kit was entered into the colouring competition, and I won. Years later, I thought I would get the kit made up into a Subbuteo team and have it painted by Paul Lloyd. Now they are entered into my home Half Century League as Seagull Valley Surf FC!

I also asked Paul Lloyd to paint a team in the colours of the Miami Dolphins to a design I created. Unfortunately, they came out more green than teal, but I kept them anyway. Two days later, Paul sent me a Denver Dynamoes team from the defunct NASL to apologise!

Additionally Mike Bradbury has painted a black Inter Miami second kit, although I gave it away to Trevor Spencer after Mike and I fell out.

I purchased eight Subbuteo La Leggenda teams from Wearegames in Spain. They are West Germany, Austria, Argentina, Columbia, Denmark, Poland, Greece and Russia. They are nice lightweight teams. Eight other teams came in the large box set, and these were sent to Jeff in Missouri. I was so impressed with the Leggenda teams I went on to buy more. I bought the 1994 USA team, 1999 Lazio, 1984 Fluminese, 1966 Dukla Prague, 1990 Red Star Belgrade, 1983 Gremio, 1964 Sporting Lisbon, 2006 Club America, 2010 Slovenia and 1999 Palmeiras.

I purchased a custom painted 1960s Manchester United team from Chris Burford, acting as agent for the collection of the late Rowland Lyons. It's an honour for me to own one of Rowland's teams. At the Leicester Foxes Subbuteo Collectors’ Fair, I collected another of Rowland’s teams, which is a Santiago Newton Heath based yellow and green nineteenth century kit.

Finally, I have some of the Italian manufacturer, Zeugo's teams :

Z04. Maroon shirts with orange trim, maroon shorts, maroon socks.
Roma.
I really like this kit. A real classic. Purchased from "Thatsmagnificent" on ebay.

Z06. Blue shirts with yellow horizontal band, blue shorts and blue socks.
Boca Juniors
An Argentinian team purchased from John Subbuteocollector.

Z07. Blue and red halved shirts, blue shorts with red trim and blue socks with red trim.
Bologna
Always one of my favourite strips, and I couldn't resist buying this one in Zeugo form, already having it in Lightweights.

Z13. Yellow shirts with blue sleeves and trim, yellow shorts with blue trim, yellow socks with blue trim.
Chievo.
Another purchase from John Subbuteocollector.

Z15. Red shirts with black hoops, black shorts, red and black socks.
Flamengo
As far as I know, the only Brazilian team I own. Purchased at the Subbuteoworld fair.

Z16. Violet shirts with a white V, violet shorts, violet socks.
Fiorentina
A lovely kit, purchased from Subbuteoworld.

Z19. Blue shirts with a white chevron on the chest, blue shorts, white socks.
Bordeaux, Brescia
The Zeugo teams fit in very well with all the other Subbuteo teams, and I particularly like this one.

Z25. Yellow and red striped shirts, red shorts, red socks with yellow trim.
Lecce
Another kit which looks similar to the later Roy of the Rovers strip in the later stories.

Z34. White shirts with a black cross, black shorts, white socks with black tops.
Parma
A Zeugo team purchased from John Subbuteocollector.

Z63. Blue shirts with white sleeves, blue shorts, white socks with blue tops.
Wigan Athletic
A very nice, clean looking kit, and one of my favourite Zuego teams. I sold this to Mick Murphy and then later replaced it with one of the late Rowland Lyons' collection.

Z66. Pink shirts with black sleeves, black shorts, black socks.
Palermo
Whose collection is complete without a pink liveried team?! Actually, I bought them for novelty value. Palermo are pushing for Serie A status at the moment. Dear, oh dear.....

Z79. White and red triangles, white shorts, white and red striped socks.
AS Monaco
A unique kit purchased from the Subbuteoworld fair for only £6!

Z80. White and blue stripes,. blue shorts, blue socks.
Porto
Another clean, nice looking kit for just £7.50.

Z82. Orange and green halves, white shorts, orange socks.
Werder Bremen
This was purchased from a football memorabilia fair at Stoke on Trent. This kit was a Bremen away kit and really did exist in 2006-7!

Z118. Green shirts, green shorts, white socks.
Wolfsburg
Another Bundesliga team to add to my collection. Purchased for just £6 from the Subbuteoworld Collectors Fair.

Z145. Blue shirts with a white V across the chest, blue shorts, blue socks.
Brescia
A team I purchased from the late Rowland Lyons' collection.

Z182. Red and white striped shirts with red sleeves, red shorts, white socks with red trim.
Olympiacos
It states this team is O. Piraeus on the box, but I know them better as Greek side, Olympiacos. Nice team.

Z187. Red shirts with yellow trim, yellow shorts, red socks with yellow trim.
Lens
Almost like a variation on a Melchester Rovers kit. Very nice.

Z217. White shirts with red hoops, black shorts, black socks.
Doncaster Rovers
Another quite unique kit purchased from the Subbuteoworld Collectors Fair.

Z242. Blue shirts with a red sash, white shorts, white, red and blue socks.
Carlisle United
Another one from the football fair at Stoke on Trent, and worn by Carlisle in the 2012-13 season.

Z253. Dark blue and pale blue quarters, dark blue shorts, dark blue socks.
Wycombe Wanderers
The third one purchased from the fair in Stoke on Trent. A Wycombe classic! I later sold this one to Mick Murphy, and then later still, purchased a replacement from the Late Rowland Lyons.

Z263. Orange and black stripes, black shorts, orange socks.
Shakhtar Donetsk
Another one purchased from a Subbuteo tournament in Stoke on Trent. I purchased a second set from ebay, so that I have a 22 players squad for my club team.

Z283. Red shirts with black and white trim, red shorts with white trim, red socks with white tops.
Bristol City
Flat bases. Seriously considering using these as my South Staffs Subbuteo team.

Z361. Claret shirts with blue sleeves, blue shorts and claret socks.
Burnley
Purchased at Subbuteofest 22 in Haverhill, Suffolk.

Z383. Green shirts, green shorts, green socks.
Panathinaikos
Purchased from Subbuteoworld, to replace Z118 which I sold to Mick Murphy.

Z???. Red shirts, white shorts, black socks.
A Zeugo Manchester United team from Mick Murphy, but un-numbered.

T05. Mid blue shirts, mid blue track suit bottoms.
Training team
A Zeugo training team for me to well, train with!

I have started buying “Paint your Own” Zeugo teams with rounded bases. I have painted the following :
Los Angeles Aztecs (NASL),

Delorley Bulldogs (Half Century League).

Table Football Monthly supplied me with two teams free of charge for being a member of their website for a time on Patreon. These are both Zeugo teams with rounded bases.

a) Blue shirts, yellow shorts, yellow socks with blue tops.

b) Yellow shirts, red shorts, yellow socks with red tops.

Finally I have a 2K4 figure team in Hasbro bases, painted in the black, red and green of Irish club Glentoran.

Taking the advice of Jeff Drake, I purchased three teams with G2C Raptor bases for use in tournaments, representing Frontier Burn However, I like them so much that I decided I would use these for Leicester Foxes club nights as well, and retire my use of the Zeugo team for the time being. A photo of the three, with the orange strip being the home strip, is as shown.

Two more Raptor based teams were given to me by fellow Manchester United fan, Shaun Dunne. Shaun was extremely generous and donated his Accrington Stanley Home and Away teams for me to use. A really great gesture!





GRAND TOTAL = 267 TEAMS!!!
Collecting Subbuteo teams makes me remember how life used to be as a kid, before prejudice against teams was introduced to me as a United fan. I knew I didn't like Liverpool, but generally, everybody else was okay. Most kids were like that. You just learn about the rivalries as you grow older. Maybe we were better in those days.

MANCHESTER UNITED TEAMS

There have been a lot of references for Manchester United over the years. Starting with the first one I ever knew, here are the numbers. References in brackets are teams I don’t yet have.

100
325
372
(373)
453
574
578
641
684
729
732
770
771 in both blue and black kits
792 in both blue/white and yellow/green kits
63137
63149
63770
63792 United’s infamous grey kit
Manchester United box set with a home kit and an away kit inside.
Zeugo home kit
United home kit for 2017/18 painted by Lloydie.
United black away kit for 2019/20 painted by Lloydie.

The International Subbuteo Solo League began with an idea by Paul Stannard.  This idea, unknown to him at the time, was known to many of us, me included.  The idea was for a solo Subbuteo league, such as the one I was playing, but with the results and league tables being reported to a central hub, such as a page on Facebook.  Thus was born the ISSL.

So, it's a page on Facebook, which is now administrated by Andy Fake, Chris Burford and myself. The idea is that we all have an "A" team and a "B" team. Each week, we are allocated fixtures, and we play the games as a solo game. The results are then uploaded to the Facebook page and Andy Fake formulates a league table. Let's look at an example.

Division 1 :

Manchester United (My team) v Glasgow Rangers (Scott's team)
Aston Villa (Scott's team) v West Ham United (Gary's team)
Torino (Steve's team) v Ipswich Town (Ju's team)
LA Galaxy (Mathis' team) v Manchester City (Gerry's team)
Tottenham Hotspur (Chris' team) v Huddersfield Town (Andy's team)
Montreal Impact (Martin's team) v Barcelona (Mathis' team)

Eagle eyed readers will note that both Scott and Mathis have two teams in Division 1. This is because promotion has put them in this fortunate position. As I write, we are half way through Season 4.

The idea is that I play both as both Manchester United and Rangers in a solo game. Perhaps next week, Manchester United will be away against West Ham United, and Gary would play both teams. We endeavour to play each game as neutrally as possible without bias towards our own team.

There are Divisions 1 to 4. Then Division 5 is split into A and B, to accommodate as many teams as possible, but to still keep the season to 22 weeks. From season 5 onwards, we also had Seasons 6A through to 6D!  There are also Conferences, for people who may be interested in finding out more, but who do not initially want to commit to a full season.  The league just keeps on growing!

We also have cup competitions and Champions League competitions, involving just the "A" teams.

My "B" team is Pescara of Italy. They are currently in Division 3. My brother, Richard also has two teams. His AC Milan team are in Division 3, while his Fulham team are in Division 5A currently.

Since the ISSL started, Manchester United have won two honours. In Season 1, they won the final of the ISSL Cup, beating Aston Villa 5-2. The game was played neutrally by Chris Burford. Then in Season 3, Manchester United won Division 2 by three clear points to gain promotion.

Finally, after every even-numbered season, we have a World Cup competition. After Season 2, we replayed the 1966 World Cup Finals. My Spain team were eliminated fairly early on. As a result, I was chosen to play the Final, as a neutral. The Final finished up

England 1 Switzerland 2.

As a result, once Season 4 is over, Switzerland go into the replayed 1962 World Cup Finals in Chile, as Champions.

The World Cup played after Season 4 was played in Chile. The Final was :

Columbia 2 Uruguay 3.

If you are interested in joining the ISSL, look out for us on Facebook.  It's a great way of making your home Subbuteo matches more meaningful, and a great way to make new friends.