The Great Football Attic Easter Egg Badge Hunt

Q: What do kids love about Easter?

If you answered "Celebrating the death and subsequent rebirth of Father Christmas" then it's likely you need either re-educating or intensive therapy!

If you answered "Easter Eggs", then hurrah, welcome home friend!

And what do kids love most about easter eggs? Aside from eating them... Yes, it's hunting them! I mean hunting for them!

And what could be better than an easter egg hunt?  Why, an easter egg hunt that results in you owning a Football Attic logo badge of course!!!

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Great Tracksuits of Our Time: No.11

Borussia Mönchengladbach (circa 1976):

Just when you thought Puma weren't capable of producing a decent retro tracksuit, think again. Here's Charlton's very own Allan Simonsen sporting a very tasty tracksuit top during his time at Borussia Mönchengladbach.

But wait a minute... doesn't this look a wee bit familiar?

That's right. This could almost be an inverse representation of Northern Ireland's away shirt (designed by Umbro) in 2011. (And if Puma's lawyers are thinking of suing, remember who tipped you off, OK?)

Yes, this is the double-chevron that was worn by the West German league champions in the mid- to late-70's. As you can see, it's a vivid green colour with a two-tone flappy collar and black waist band, but a nice touch here is the placement of the Puma logo (a little lower than you'd normally see on a football top) and the inclusion of the name 'A.Simonsen') just below it.

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England v Spain programme, 1968

You can tell how old this match-day programme is because on page 2 there’s an explanation of what the European Championships is all about and how it came to be formed. Your average English football fan actually had to be told what the competition was all about.

This somewhat thin pamphlet commemorating the occasion of England’s quarter-final against Spain in April 1968 may not contain much, but it gently informs and educates the reader about a tournament that was still only eight years old at the time. Of the two previous occasions when it was held, England hadn't taken part in the first and had been eliminated in the Preliminary Round during the second.

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Football Attic Retro Roundup

There's a whole host of retro loveliness out there on that world wide web and while we will often retweet / share these articles, we thought it'd be nice to collate all the excellent stuff we've been reading each week.

To that end, we present the 1st of our (hopefully) weekly Retro Roundups

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Tried and failed: The Case of the Missing Ribbons

Sometimes, if you look hard enough throughout its long and illustrious history, you can find evidence of a failed attempt to make football better.

Here's an example from the 1976 League Cup Final where we see Man City captain Mike Doyle proudly lifting the trophy. But where are the coloured ribbons of the winning team?

The answer? There weren't any, because in 1976 some bright spark thought it would be a great idea to do away with tradition and replace the ribbons with a rosette instead.

This neatly explains the reason why we still see ribbons attached to the FA Cup and League Cup today: because tradition is good and new-fangled forward thinking rarely, if ever, works. Here endeth the lesson.

Seen any other backfiring attempts to make football even better than it already is?  If so, drop us a line - we're at admin [at] thefootballattic [dot] com.

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Fantasy Nostalgia: Subbuteo 1900

While writing our recent article about football cigarette cards from 1938, it occurred to me that the game of soccer in the UK back then must have been a very colourful one indeed. Like many of you, I've occasionally seen pictures of footballers from the early twentieth century and marvelled at the garish colours and antiquated styles of the uniforms worn in that long-forgotten era.

But the thought quickly came to mind that if football really was so colourful back then, what would a Subbuteo poster from that era have looked like if the game had existed?  It was at this moment that I hatched a plan to create the image you see below:

Click for larger version

To be specific, I tried to create the image of a Subbuteo poster as it may have looked back at the start of 1900. The teams that are featured are from the Football Leagues of England and Scotland during the 1899-1900 season as well as international teams. Not that there were many of the latter; only England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales were playing football at international level until 1902.

Where the kits are concerned, I've used artistic license from time to time where specific details were unavailable for the start of 1900. In those cases, I've used an approximate image based on the nearest kit recorded to that date. In short, this is a very generalised depiction of the kits being worn back in the day.

As for the poster itself, I've kept the styling fairly simple to maximise overall clarity because if the Victorians liked one thing, it was ornate decoration. Don't get me wrong - I like a curlicue as much as the next man, but one can have too much of a good thing.

Anyway, you're invited to click on the image for a closer look at the teams playing at the start of the last century (apologies for small index text, by the way), and if you can't find your favourite club, they either hadn't been formed, hadn't joined the league or were operating under a different name back then. No prizes for identifying any teams in the last category!

(To view the image at full size, left-click on the image above, then when the image appears on your screen, right-click on it and save it to your computer. Once there, you can view it in a graphics package or Windows.)

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Panini: Football 81

You could hardly miss Panini’s Football 81 sticker album as it rested on the newsagent’s shelf alongside the Angling Times and the latest instalment of Carrier’s Kitchen. The bright yellow cover and dynamic picture of Ray Wilkins taking on Gerry Francis shouted ‘come and get me’ to any passing 10-year-olds, and I'm proud to admit that I was one.

By now, a strong format had become the foundation of the annual Panini sticker album. First Division teams had a double-page spread upon which were printed rows of stickers showing head-and-shoulder pics of the manager and various players. A team picture and foil badge headed it all up with mini player biographies and a club profile thrown in for good measure.

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Top 5 Subbuteo World Cup Accessories That Never Were

Subbuteo, as we all know, created many many accessories to enhance the realism of the beautiful tabletop game. Some were great and their existence was without question... Others made you wonder who exactly came up with the idea (ball throwing goalies on sticks?!?!).

To that end, I hereby present some more Subbuteo accessories that, for all we know, may have been one step away from production... assuming the decision makers were tripping balls of course...

Triggs - Roy Keane's Dog

Forget host country South Korea's extraordinary journey to the semi final. The true star of the 2002 World Cup was a bit more hairy though probably covered just as much ground.

Meet Triggs, the lovable labrador who shot to fame after Roy's early exit (I'd say hissy fit, but I value my legs too much) from the Republic of Ireland's base camp.

Combine him with any Roy Subbuteo figure and the TV Tower and you too can recreate those hazy days 11 years ago when the world media chased a bloke and his pooch round the streets while the rest of the world wanted to watch some football... at 9 o'clock in the bloody morning...

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WA & AC Churchman's 'Association Footballers' Cigarette Cards, 1938

There’s is the forgotten era, a vacuum in which football survived purely for the people playing it professionally and the ordinary masses that paid at the turnstiles every Saturday afternoon to watch.

We have no lasting conscience of them now. They played in baggy clothes and heavy boots, thrilling thousands upon thousands every week with their artistry and tenacity. Their captivating style and humble grace made them champions in the eyes of the fans that idolised them unfalteringly. In observing their easy way with the ball, reputations based on strength, speed and accuracy were nurtured and augmented in the minds of those that watched their stiff-collared heroes from the terraces.

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Subbuteo Team Collections - Andrew Rockall

We received an email from Andrew Rockall (Statto_74) yesterday, showing us his recently discovered collection of Subbuteo teams. We're very happy to showcase them here as it's damn impressive! Over to Andrew for the background...

Twenty years ago I made a conscious decision to save my Subbuteo things for any future children I might have. I came across the box of goodies last week and thought it was time to dust it down and take a nostalgic look.

I was amazed to find I still have 33 teams. As you can see from the kit designs, I made almost all of my purchases during the 80's. What surprised me were several teams I know I had but have somehow mislaid.

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