Subbuteo ...

Subbuteo is a set of board games simulating team sports but is most closely associated with the football game, which for many years was marketed as 'the replica of Association Football'. The 'Subbuteo' name is derived from the Latin Falco subbuteo, a bird of prey commonly known as the Eurasian Hobby, after a trademark was not granted to its creator Peter Adolph to call the game The Hobby.
The availability of Subbuteo was first announced in the August 1946 edition of The Boy's Own Paper. The advert was vague and didn't provide any detail about what was actually on offer. The same month Peter Adolph lodged a patent application for the game. Once orders started to pour in Adolph set about converting his patent idea into a deliverable product.
The first Subbuteo sets consisted of goals made with wire and paper nets, a cellulose acetate ball, cardboard playing figures in two basic kits (red shirts with white shorts, and blue shirts with white shorts) and bases made from buttons weighed down with lead washers. No pitch was provided: instead, the purchaser was given instructions on how to mark out (with chalk, provided) a playing area onto a blanket (an old army blanket was recommended). The first sets were eventually available about 6 months after the original advertisement appeared. An early innovation was to replace the early cardboard figures with a 2-D celluloid figure, known to collectors as 'flats'.
Early production of Subbuteo was centred near Tunbridge Wells, in Kent. The early years of subbuteo were marked by fierce rivalry with 'Newfooty', a similar game that had been invented in the late 1920s by William Keeling of Liverpool. As a means of differentiating his product, in 1961 Adolph introduced a three dimensional handpainted plastic figure into the range. After several design modifications, this figure evolved by 1967 into the classic 'heavyweight' figure.
There were several further evolutions of figure design. In 1978 the 'zombie' figure was introduced to facilitate the machine painting of figures. After much negative feedback, the zombie figure was replaced in 1980 by the 'lightweight' figure that continued until the 1990s.

In the Beginning - Card & Celluloid

These flat celluloid players came in a small packet, this chap replaced the card player and was more hardwearing. The celluloid player was available well into the 60's. Both the Card and Celluloid players were found in the box sets of the 50's. Waddingtons also had hundreds of these celluloid teams still in their original packs. Some of this stock was given to the Subbuteo Collectors Club. There seem to be at least three variations of base.

COLLECTOR Ref No. 1 - 50

Collector references numbers 1-50 were the first teams produced by Subbuteo, and are therefore mostly the colours that English and Scottish club sides were wearing during the 1950s and 1960s. The catalogues of the time also make reference to Irish teams, and international country sides, but these are secondary sides and not the reason the team was produced.

THE ORIGINAL HEAVYWEIGHT PLAYER

The first of the 'OO' scale figures. They were available in 1961 for a very short time and they had 'V' neck shirts and short sleeves. In my opinion these little chaps for me are the best. The very first 'Continental' style players in 1961 came in white boxes. Then came the green boxes with two variations with a white rim. For some reason the first batch of original heavyweight teams that were all made with black shorts.

MID TO LATE 70's TEAM BOX.
The player graphics on the front of the box was added. This is the most common of the pre 80's boxes. These boxes didn't seem as sturdy as the earlier versions.

FOOTBALLER STATUETTE: 7 & 79

The Footballer Statuette could be hand-painted in any of the club colours on the team lists. It survives in the catalogues until 1975-76

Away Strip
Second version: Blue Shorts 1973 - 1980

C132 CORNER KICKERS

Debuting in 1972-73 these seriously oversized chaps were the Subbuteo rugby conversion figures on new bases.
Articulated, hand-painted figures with "kicking" action on finger control base, adding practical skill, ball control and direction to corner kicks etc.

Zombies...

The zombie is the rather insulting name given to Subbuteo's first attempt at a figure which could be assembled and painted by machine. The nickname comes from the lifeless look of the player - there is no attempt at a pose and almost no detail. Worse still, the first zombies sold did not even have the Subbuteo logo around the base. These new bases were designed to clip together in the machine without the need for glue, but the early ones are often glued (messily) and are ill fitting. This can leave the player poorly balanced.

EARLY 80's TEAM BOX
There was now a big transformation in the type of team boxes Waddingtons were using. The classic lift off lid box had gone and we now had a slide out tray plastic tray with a small window to view the player.

Machine Painted Lightweights

The lightweight was designed to be machine printed. These prints allowed fine details, and were at their best when coping with the craze for pin stripes in the early 1980s. Teams introduced from 1981 onwards are more likely to be designed as a machine printed.
 
Bases
As far as base lettering goes on lightweights, there are only two versions. The 1980s base is identical to the final Zombie base, and has the word SUBBUTEO in caps. In the early 1990s, this changes to Subbuteo in small letters.

West Ham United
Collector Ref: 327
1980 (Away)

West Ham United
Collector Ref: 355
1981-83 (Home)

Team Colours all introduced 1982-84

West Ham United
Collector Ref: 488
1984-85 (Home)

West Ham United
Collector Ref: 627
1986-96 (Home)

Team colours all introduced 1985-90

West Ham United
Collector Ref: 667
1988-89 (Home)

Team colours all introduced 1990-96

West Ham United
Collector Ref: 712
1990-91 (Home)
Alternative version not shown in catalogues

West Ham United
Collector Ref: 816
1995 (Away)

Zeugo teams come on a 2 piece flat bottom base.
Base combination Light Blue outer with Red inner

2 piece flat bottom base with new style Black Team Box.
Base combination Red outer with Light Blue inner

FAN COLLECTIONS

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