Presenting today a recent acquisition in the interests of football-related nostalgia, this time a genuine Subbuteo catalogue, its vintage dating from the mid-1970s, a time when I was immersed in such pursuits: back in the day, I would have owned this very edition of the publication, included with the boxed sets of the game.
The illustrating photographs provide a delightful snapshot of the fashions of the time (look at those hairstyles)
&, opening up the first fold of the catalogue to peek inside, the range of accessories available to the keen customizer of his (assumed to be, as one must, from personal experience) or her set, the builder of their full football stadium environment.
The particular gold, however, & the reason for investing in this particular catalogue for the archives, is the team colours chart it contains within, visible in all its glory once the publication is unfolded to its full extent,
whilst flipping the sheet reveals the gridded list of the actual British, European, South American & African teams that the colours represent, again those exotic names & kits that seduce so readily, even in miniature form.
All this has also served to remind me & lead to a reminiscence of The Undertones’ rather wonderful ‘My Perfect Cousin’, once owned on a 7” single, the iconic Subbuteo-themed sleeve of which is reproduced here, illustrating the reference to the game in the song’s lyrics.
Ironically, by the time of the record’s release, in 1980, we were then so immersed in our addiction to post-punk music (the obsessive listening-to, collection of, reading about & passionate discussion of), that we’d just about outgrown our devotion to Subbuteo.
And then, nostalgically, it all comes round again…
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