My Subbuteo Accessories
I have listed all the Subbuteo accessories I have collected over the years, in numerical order. I have included a small comment after each one.
C100 Subbuteo OO Scale Team
Go back a page, and click on the other button!
C101 Floodlighting Pylons
I had two pylons which I used to place in opposite corners. They looked far too big, and the batteries did not seem to last very long. I left one battery in permanently and it leaked. The floodlight was thrown away. I have no idea where the other one went!
C104 Photographers, trainer and manager
The photographers were the best figures in this little pack, although they have 1960s style equipment. They look dated now. The manager was stood with his hands in his pockets, and was in the same mould as a Matt Busby or a Bill Shankley.
C107 Referee and Linesmen
Why on Earth did these figures have player style bases? Did anyone actually play the role of the referee or linesmen in their games? Did you get in the way of the players, while they were actually playing the game?
C108 Plastic Fence Surround
This was an excellent idea in theory, but by the time you had created a fence all around the pitch, you'd lost half an hour's playing time. As my pitch had once been on a piece of board and had been stitched to hide the frayed edges, I ended up with gaps in the fence.
C109 Playing Pitch
As stated in C108, when I first got my pitch it was on a piece of board. My Dad told me I could either have my Subbuteo pitch on a board, or a model railway layout. I chose the railway, and the pitch was removed from its board. The pitch was then used on carpets for many years, but was only ever ironed once. It has been given an ironing occasionally, and although replaced now by a Pegasus Astropitch, it still sits as a proud part of my collection.
C110 TV Tower
My favourite accessory, and probably most people's. Whatever I put out, the TV Tower and a scoreboard were musts. I loved the commentator, wrapped up against the cold weather, talking into a hand held mike. Why was he watching his monitor, instead of the game though?
C111 Half Time Scoreboard
Watch any TV replay of a 1960s match, and you'll see the curious half time scoreboard. It fitted halfway along a touchline, and provided you knew which codes the other matches had, you could find out the half time scores. This little number fitted in with C108, but was more for show than use.
C113 Ambulancemen and Police Set
Another nice little set, but one thing intrigues me: The stretcher already has a patient in it. If your striker gets injured, and needs the stretcher, do St John's tell the bloke under the blanket to get out, as they need the stretcher now?
C114 Mascot and Bench Set
A rather hard looking bench with another manager and the subs sat on it. Also featuring that England mascot bloke with the Union Jack shirt who followed England everywhere. Rest in Peace Ken Baily.
C115 Match Score Recorder
Otherwise known as the scoreboard. I used to play with this for hours, and it was also useful for putting all the team names in a hat and doing F A Cup draws with the card team names.
C116 Subbuteo Handbook
A useful little book giving you the rules, how to set up leagues, places to record scores, Brian Clough's hat size, why Stan Bowles didn't turn up for training and numerous other items. Of course some of these may be made up....
C117 Six triangular Lineside Flags
My flags were triangular, but most others I ever saw were rectangular in shape. Most people I know knelt on at least one of their flags and crushed them. I didn't, I was careful.
C118 European Cup
No, not a OO scale cup, but a replica about four inches high, in solid silver plastic. Very nice.
C126 Training Kit C - Dribbling Posts and Passing Tee
Some little obstacles to dribble round and a plastic circle with a hole in it, and a tracksuited bloke who got broken. Not my best purchase by any means. I could have trained just the same with the items I already had.
C127 3 Continental Balls
Some nice little white balls with black pentagons on. I was good at standing on these and crushing them. They should have hung around with the flags.
C128 F A Cup
An excellent replica trophy, which I used to put on top of the TV on cup final day. I snapped the top unfortunately, but I still remember it fondly. I purchased another in pristine condition in 2019.
C129 Self Adhesive Number Transfers
Tired of sticking little pieces of numbered paper to my players' bases, I invested in some of these transfers. Tired of dropping the numbers before fixing them to the players, I returned to the numbered bits of paper.
C131 Corner Kick Figures
Great idea, but useless in practice. I never did manage to lift the ball into the penalty area. I did manage to lift the ball off the pitch and out for a throw, many times though. Also, the players were a scale 12 foot tall, so would have been better placed in the penalty area, waiting for the cross, had it been able to be lifted off the floor. A vicious circle.
C132 Throw in Figures
These were more useful little figures than the corner kickers, although they were prone to being damaged.
C133 Six Interchangeable Goalkeepers
Two goalie rods and six figures to go on the end. These came in very handy if you broke one of your goalkeepers. I never liked the white shirted keepers, though, thinking them stupid. In today's world of bizarre strips, they seem somehow more realistic.
C134 Six Ball Boys
These were very handy, although I was a bit bewildered by their track suit colour. Yellow with a red stripe? You're not telling me teenage lads would be seen dead wearing yellow tracksuits with red stripes!
C135 VIP Presentation Set
A cracking set with the Queen presenting the FA Cup, the Queen Mother, Prince Phillip, Prince Charles and the FA Bloke. That's who I thought they were anyway.
C140 Green Stadium Grandstand
A lovely grandstand which was really easy to assemble. The only draw back was the poor crowd attendances, unless you were prepared to spend all your pocket money for the next year on spectators. A nice model, though.
C141 Spectators
And here they are. Except, you only get ten in a packet. So you need about twenty packs or so to fill your one stand. If you have any more grandstands or terraces, just imagine how much it would have cost to populate it!
C142 Terrace Set
Basically, this was the seating piece from the grandstand, with a stand on the back. Still, I had one of these as well. More figures to buy....
C145 Small Footballs
Three small footballs. They were plain, unimaginative, but did their job.
C148 De Luxe Goals
Another essential for the game. Although, I'd have called them "Basic Goals".
C158 Stadium Scoreboard
During the 70s and 80s, more teams had electronic scoreboards, and Subbuteo created their own. The white bulbs were represented by raised dots on the numbers, although the team names were just white print on a black background. A nice accessory.
C159 Police Set
Within a package purchased off ebay, I got an incomplete police set. Actually, I think I only got the copper on a horse!
C166 Referee's Kit
Yes you too can be the scourge of your Mates, as you referee that important top of the league clash, blowing your whistle, waving red and yellow cards when you feel like it and writing in your notebook. Ahem.
C168 50 Unpainted Figures
Another fantastic idea. Except painting all those figures will have you reaching for alcohol to numb the pain, if you wish to fill your entire stadium. Back to the packs of ten painted figures then....
C169 Advertisement Boards
Cardboard advertisement hoardings which were overpriced, but I still liked them anyway. They advertised well known brands, and were quite nice.
C205 Tango Balls
No, not an insult to people who enjoy fizzy orange juice! These three footballs were my favourite. They were black and white and based on the Tango design ball, popular in the late 80s and early 90s.
JJ Ball Raising Chute
Absolutely awful. I was sent these in an ebay package and at first didn’t know what they are. If you use them, the ball goes straight up in the air and drops a few inches in front. Subbuteo eventually repurposed them to support their terracing!
61139 Bench Set
The modern (for then) manager’s and substitutes bench. Comes in a clear dugout shelter and has several seated and running tracksuited figures, wearing green. Very nice.
Managers and Programme Seller
A bit of a specialist item this. I bought a “Steve Bruce”, and a “Gareth Southgate” metal figure. They are mounted on one pence pieces and are made of metal. I like them a lot. I also got a programme seller from the same series.
Balls!
I have a large selection of Subbuteo footballs, including MOIsT, O’Fallon Flames (Jeff Drake’s Subbuteo team) and Manchester United (from the box set). I have about 20 footballs altogether.
If you are still reading this, you will probably not wish to know I also have a lot of Subbuteo Table Cricket accessories as well. I will not list them here, but just be aware I've got them. Okay? Right then.
*THIS INFORMATION WAS ORIGINALLY TAKEN FROM A SUBBUTEO TRIBUTE WEBSITE I CREATED. THE ORIGINAL TEXT HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO THIS DOCUMENT, AND THEN ADDITIONAL INFORMATION HAS BEEN ADDED LATER.
