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Perhaps not one of A&BC's better designed sets. The backs are
stylish, but the fronts don't have the same appeal as in previous
years. Series 1 comprises cards 1 to 109 (checklist 57), Series 2
cards 110 to 219 (checklist 170) and Series 3 cards 220 to 290
(checklist 277). |
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A set of strange looking stickers which were issued with Series 2
of the Purple backs. They belonged in an album (cost 8p) which could
be ordered from: |
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Attractive stickers which were issued with Series 3 of the
Purple backs. These stickers, like the crests, advertise the A&BC
Footballer Album to stick them in. |
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A&BC reversed their previous decision and went with the same
colour backing for the English and Scottish sets of this year. This
set was issued as two series, 1 to 73 and 74 to 144. |
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Similar to the English set, issued with Series 2 of the Purple
backs, but only 16 of them. This raises questions about whether or
not these were intended to be stuck into an album. The album was
designed for the 23 English Club Crests and 23 Superstars, so
perhaps the Scottish crests were stand-alone. |
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OK, so they are not technically football cards, but they are interesting and collectable. A set of 12 'volumes', prepared with the co-operation of the Football Association. The 12 volumes all have the same picture on the front cover, but the colours and writing change for each book. You bought these Minibooks on
Football Hints with a piece of Anglo Bubble Gum. It cost 3p for the
bubble gum. The gum and book came in wrappers which themselves came
in a variety of colours. |
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BAB produced a number of these beautiful sheets, copyright 1971.
The sheets contained a 'century of' i.e. 100, stickers. The football
related ones I am aware of are: |
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A set of 50 cigarette style cards issued by Barratt & Co Ltd,
London, England. A return to football-related cards by Barratt, but
only 11 footballers amongst the 50 sportsman.The footballers are:
Alan Ball, Gordon Banks, George Best, Billy Bremner, Wyn Davies,
Emlyn Hughes, Brian Kidd, Billy McNeill, Alan Mullery, Bobby Moore
and Pele. |
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OK, so they are not football cards, but they are attractive and
collectable.The jam jar lids were produced for Cadbury Schweppes
Foods Ltd., Bournville, Birmingham while the images on the lids were
provided by Coffer, with an inscription on each lid saying © Coffer,
London. The jam jar lids fit into a folder (pictured below) which
names them as 'Hartleys Football Stars 1971-72'. So, Cadbury or
Hartley's?
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Busts of 16 top players available from Cleveland Petrol outlets.
As with most petrol giveaways you got these for buying petrol. The
collection fitted into a black plastic display stand. The heads
themselves are made of a very tough plastic but the stand is less
durable. These 'heads' were very popular at the time, so you do find
them still available in good condition, but excellent quality stands
are hard to find. |
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One card for every team. This popular set was to be stuck onto a
large wallchart with the title 'Bobby Moore's Gallery of Soccer
Sides'. |
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The My Club cards were able to be ordered separately from the
Mirror, and then stuck onto your Bobby Moore wallchart. The idea was
that you collected the card for your favourite team to personalise
your chart. Obviously very few were ordered, and most of those stuck
to the charts, so it is rare to find them in unmarked condition.
Since one was available for each of the 96 teams (92 league teams
plus the home international teams) I'm guessing that perhaps some of
the lower division teams' cards would form the rarest recent
football cards of all. |
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A set of foil badges which could be stuck onto a large collectors
card. You could start off your collection by purchasing a special
starters pack which included 26 badges for only 20p. After that I
guess that you had to get your parents to buy some petrol. |
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Another coin collection from Esso, this time with heavier coins.
30 of the coins (silver) represent the 30 teams who had won the cup
up until 1972. A larger, bronze coin commemorated Leeds win over
Arsenal in 1972.The coins could be presented on a dark blue mounting
board. |
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First Division. The one-off trial with a small black-and-white
head shot on the back of the sticker. Jack Rollin continued as album
editor, while the Professional Footballers Association (PFA)
approved the collection. A club badge sticker was available for each
team, and a place for each in the album. Each packet contained one
self adhesive team badge sticker and seven player stickers. Album:
Price 15p.
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The action cards came in the packets of crisps, two cards per
packet. Each card had a token, and you could ruin your cards to
remove the token in order to send off 11 tokens with your name,
address and 4p stamp for postage to receive a 'fabulous Football
Stadium complete with football'. You could then further cut around
the cards in order to place your players (cards) into slots in the
game. It's surprising that any of these cards have survived at all.
You could collect all 22 'Great Stars', presumably to play 11 vs 11
in your football game. |
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The Shoot magazine began in 1969, and has become an institution
for young football fans. On 11 September 1971 they began a new
series of collectables by suggesting that readers cut out a four
page section and fold and trim the pages to form the first four
(1-4) and the last four (109-112) of a booklet. Each of the pages
includes a photo of a player with an accompanying biography. There
was also a space to attach an autograph for each player. The
autographs were available separately from the Shoot magazines. |
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The blue backed cards from 1969/70 obviously proved successful,
since IPC tried again 20 months later, albeit with a different set
of comics. The comics were: Buster and Jet, Lion and Thunder,
Scorcher and Score, Tiger, and Valiant and TV 21. The publication
dates were: October 16, 23 and 30, and November 6, 1971. |
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Letraset's first eponymous foray into the football collectables
marketplace. A set of 24 Action Transfers where you received a set
of transfers and a 'scene'. The scene was printed in the middle of a
fold-out paper folder, and you were supposed to apply the transfers
in order to make up the specified action replay e.g. a hand ball or
a brilliant header. As well as featuring an action replay each item
featured a top player, with an image of that player which could be
rubbed onto a space in the folder. |
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A small Scottish set from Letraset, featuring key games and
players. This set is called Soccer Action Replay. It is referred to
as 'An Action Transfer Product'. The transfer sheets are understood
to be numbered GK 120/1 to GK 120/12. |
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These attractive badges are also available with the
Mr Softee and
Tonibell company names,
with the Tonibell set a year later. The Tonibell set has Birmingham City
and Norwich City (promoted at the end of the 1971/72 season) in place of
the relegated Huddersfield Town and Nottingham Forest (with thanks to
Mark for this information). |
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Following on from the previous year's Soccer Stars, Lyons Maid issued
International Footballers. Normally the international players are not as
popular as local players, so perhaps this set was not so succesful in
helping to sell ice creams, as Lyons Maid didn't continue their soccer
cards after this set. |
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In 1971 Marshall Cavendish began the massive production of the
Book of Football, a Marshall Cavendish Encyclopedia, in 75 weekly
parts. The parts cost 23p each, or £13.30 for a 12-month
subscription (52 issues including postage and packing). The weekly
parts could be stored in 5 binders (each holding 15 issues). For the
first 20 of its 75 parts the Book of Football included sheets of 16
'colour star portraits' in the centre pages. |
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These attractive badges are also available with the
Lord Neilson and
Tonibell company
names, with the Tonibell set a year later. The Tonibell set has
Birmingham City and Norwich City (promoted at the end of the 1971/72
season) in place of the relegated Huddersfield Town and Nottingham
Forest (with thanks to Mark for this information). |
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A set of 30 stickers issued as strips of 3 stickers each in special
Shredded Wheat Soccer Action Picture packs. The stickers were designed
to be stuck into Bob Wilson's Soccer Action Collector Book. The
Collector Book was given away free inside the cereal packets, thereby
encouraging you to collect the stickers. Four pictures were already
printed into the book, so I'm not sure how the numbers worked out? The
booklet was edited by Hayters Sports Agency for Nabisco Ltd. Printed by
Creaseys of Hertford.  |
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Following on from the undoubted success of the Swap cards the Sun
followed up in 1971/72 with the ambitious Soccerstamps collection. The
Soccerstamps were stamps, rather than cards, and came in a wide variety
of sizes, shapes and colours. The tokens for Soccerstamps appeared in
the Sun each day. The Sun only accepted tokens in lots of six, plus 5p,
to get your 12 Soccerstamps by return post. |
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A large fold-out banner presented with the Wizard comic. The banner includes: Arsenal (League Champions and F.A. Cup Winners 1970-71), Francis Lee, George Best, Steve Heighway, Billy Bremner, Ron Davies, Martin Chivers, John Jackson, Joe Corrigan, Iam McFaul, Peter Shilton, Phil Parkes, Pat Jennings, Peter Bonetti, Gary Sprake, Bob Wilson, Gordon Banks, Jeff Astle, Howard Kendall and Colin Harvey, Sandy Jardine, and Celtic (Scottish League Champions and F.A. Cup Winners 1970-71) |
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A large set of cards featuring the First Division teams, plus
some puzzle cards. The cards were to be stuck into an album
'Football 72', which cost 15p. The album was printed by Allens
Printers (Wales) Limited, Pontygwindy Industrial Estate, Caerphilly,
Glam., in association with Print and Marketing Services (Europe)
Ltd. You received 6 cards in a packet for 3p. |
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