Great Tracksuits of Our Time: No.13

Norway (1986):

One glaring omission from our Great Tracksuits series thus far is Hummel, the Danish sportswear manufacturer (and not the German World War II tank of the same name).

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The League of Blogs 2013 Deadline!

As you may well know, we're running the League of Blogs project again. Last year, we never really set a deadline as we had no idea how popular it was going to be. We eventually decided to set a limit to the number of places on the wallchart (so I didn't have to redraw it for the 50th time ;-) ).

This year however, as there is no wallchart and people keep asking if they've missed it, it would make sense to actually create a deadline so you know how much time you have to get your submissions in. As this is no small project, the deadline will be quite a long one so don't worry :)

We've therefore decided to set the closing date the same as the end of the football season (which we're deciding is when the Champions League European Cup finishes).

So...you have until Saturday 25th May to get your League of Blogs entry in.

Don't forget, if you want any help with creating your badge or kits, just ask...we're more than happy to help :)

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Retro Round-Up - 12 April 2013

This week's selection of the best retro footy stuff on the web over the past seven days...

Our fears surely confirmed - Panini have been best friends with Photoshop, according to the evidence provided by Old School Panini...

A classic moment in England football history, brought to our attention by The Stiles Council, created by 8Bit-Football...

A rare piece of Clough-related Brighton memorabilia over at The Goldstone Wrap...

Spirit of Mirko finds extra footballing significance in the recent passing of Margaret Thatcher...

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Esso Collection of Football Club Badges - The Adverts

We might start calling this 'Discovery Week' on The Football Attic...

After Rich J recently discovered the true source for his free Winterthur Subbuteo team, I was today able to shed more light on a previous post of my own.

One of the most popular posts on our website is one of the most unexpected successes. Back in September 2012, I reviewed a largely overlooked piece of memorabilia called the Esso Collection of Football Club Badges. Coming from the same people that brought you the England World Cup Coin Collection, this was a set of football insignia (made from foil) available individually from Esso petrol stations whenever a tankful of fuel was purchased.

When I wrote the article well over six months ago, I'd barely heard of the Esso badge collection, yet as if to prove I wasn't alone, thousands of you have been visiting this website to find out more about those shiny club crests yourselves.

And if you count yourself as one of that band of loyal and inquisitive souls, you're in luck because just today I've unearthed further evidence as to how those badges were marketed back in 1971.

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Winterthur...The Truth Revealed!

You may recall (though given the number of hits it got, you probably don't ;-P ) I wrote the below article all about how I got a free Subbuteo team from Shoot! Magazine.

Well, as it turns out, it wasn't, it was from Match...how do I know this?

While surfing eBay the other day, I chanced upon a copy of Match from December 1987. Across the front was a strapline: "Free Subbuteo Teams - Collect Token No. 1 Inside"

Could it be?

Then, purely by chance, good friend Rob Stokes of theglovebag.com sent me a pic and mentioned he'd been going through a decade's worth of Match mags. I asked him to see if he could find the one I'd seen and he did! Not only that, but he kindly scanned in the original articles / offers (and the tokens...evidently he didn't get a free team ;-) )

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Palitoy Pocketeers 'World Cup' (1975)

Think of the phrase 'Flick-to-kick' and you're immediately likely to summon up images of the hemispherically-anchored figures of Subbuteo. The trouble is, Subbuteo was never very good as a game to play in the back of a car on a long journey.

Luckily, there was one game worthy of the slogan. Kind of. 'World Cup' was one of a whole range of games by Palitoy called 'Pocketeers'. Their aim was to provide fun entertainment that kids could easily buy with whatever pocket money they had. There were no batteries to fit and no computer gadgetry involved; all the moving parts in each game were built around clockwork mechanisms and manual interaction on the part of the owner, and that was all.

There were many games to collect in the series emulating everything from angling to motor racing, and all of them fitted snugly in an average school child's pocket. Inevitably football came into focus for the Palitoy boffins and in 1975 they came up with a design that simulated the end-to-end cut and thrust of the beautiful game... in plastic.

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Shoot! 14 November 1981

Imagine a world where football fans across England could, in effect, choose which players could represent their country in international matches. Back in November 1981, Shoot! magazine wasn't quite able to offer such a direct influence on England team selection, but it did invite readers to send in their preferred team to beat Hungary in the upcoming crucial World Cup qualifier.

Having received a “phenomenal” response to their appeal in a previous issue, Shoot! compiled the team that its readers thought Ron Greenwood should pick. “Some positions were clear-cut” it said, while for “one or two we almost needed a recount” due to the closeness of the vote.

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The Football Attic & Backpass Magazine

It's a very proud day for us here in the Attic as the latest issue of Backpass (no. 28) features an article written by Chris and myself, covering what we think were the best and worst Subbuteo accessories, ranging from the "ahead of its time" trainer's bench to the useless pieces of plastic that masqueraded as floodlights.

Backpass is a fantastic magazine dedicated to football in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, but also touching on the 1950s and 1990s and frankly, if you're into retro football and you haven't bought a copy before, then I can only assume you are insane ;-)

This month also contains an excellent feature on Plymouth kits from John Devlin at True Colours as well as a look into the memorabilia past of none other than my beloved Coventry City by the retro godfathers, Got, Not Got.

You can obtain your copy from most WH Smiths and my local Sainsburys...ok that last one is only really useful if you live near me.
You can also get them direct from Backpass

It's out today, so seek out a copy and bathe yourself in its retro-warmth :)

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Retro Round Up - 5 April 2013

Our weekly selection of the best retro football articles from across the internet over the last seven days...


First up, The Goldstone Wrap remembers happier times for John Gregory while a player at the Goldstone Ground...

The Vintage Football Club brings us The French Olympic team that faced Israel in 1976, featuring the future President of UEFA...

There's been many a club badge discarded on the rubbish heap of football history, but Chris Wright of Who Ate All The Pies has unearthed 20 of the best for our viewing pleasure...

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Retro Random Video: BBC World Cup Grandstand 1986

If you search YouTube long enough, you'll soon realise there are enough clips to delight and amuse you well into the next century. Yet it's not the quantity of the clips that often delights - more the randomness of them.

To that end, we'll be trying to bring you exactly that kind of overlooked randomness here on The Football Attic, and as ever, if you find any such footage of your own that you'd like to bring to a wider audience, do drop us a line and let us know.

We begin our trawl of the video archives with this quarter-hour clip taken from the end of the very last edition of the BBC's World Cup Grandstand in 1986.

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